Never alone
by Idgit313
Summary: River Tam was never the only one. Now see what happens when another of her kind finds her, who is he, and more importantly what does he want from her?
1. Market

_Mind yer distance, not too close, but not too far, keep eyes on the target, try not to let them know yer following 'em_, _which has always been a tad more difficult when another reader is involved_ he thought to himself. _Only right way t'keep 'em from knowing what 'm doing is hard'ta accept, keepin' her outta my mind means keepin' me in, it would be might spot easier to look after her if I could range out… t'know when she would be in trouble_. _The girl aint the only threat, leastwise not when it comes to being seen, her brother, the doctor's far too observant for somebody who's s'posed be off-duty._ _Only reason he aint seen me yet is the mechanic keeps his attention, lucky fer me he's shiny on her. If he knew how dangerous the market is he'd never'a let the girl planetside._

That's when he saw it. _Folks at the exits, workin hard to make it plain they ain't payin no mind to nothin at all, 'cept they keep sneakin peeks at the woman-folk an' the doctor… guards._ His mind started racin', wonderin' if they know 'bout him, or the girl, _seems too shiny to think on it as a coincidence_. _Only wonder is, how to handle it? Could try and create an opening, get the guards to notice him, make a mess of a scene, keep 'em off her trail long enough to get away_, but then he might lose her too, other choice was to try and sidle up next to them and introduce himself. He was none too keen on looking like some obsessed loon though, and he couldn' be sure that the men were chasing the girl, always a chance they were poking around to nab him. _No blue gloves… been too long since they been around, too quiet, somethin's aint shiny 'round this. No feds neither, least none that's takin' a shot at grabbing her._ He turned his head to be sure nobody was thinking on taking him. _Nothin'? That don't make no sense. Folks don't go makin' traps not to spring them, what're they gamin' for?_ Then he saw the monitors. _Height of the day, crowded market, and looking for all the 'verse like the black. This time a day they should be givin' news feeds or advertisements_. Made him think on it, he knew the answer already. _They're tryin' to activate the girl!_ They didn't know he was around, if they could trigger him this would have be rough, but he'd had the shrink black the triggers out, so he wouldn't go all starry-eyed and start killing innocent folks without much cause other than he couldn't stop. Once he reckoned what was happening it was to the black with plans.

He reacted a touch too slow, the girl saw the screen and her eyes went wide for a moment, he opened his mind wide, trying for all the 'verse to keep her from going all moon-brained and killin' good folks, but the trap was sprung. Her first hit caught the doctor in the temple, he dropped like a rock. She made a flat hand and tried for the mechanic next, but the boy was too close, he wrapped his hand around her forearm mid-blow and pulled her arm wide at the last moment. _Tha's shiny, you jus' lookit me_ he thought to himself as she squared off with him. "Miss, ya best be callin' yer cap'n 'r wakin'im up f'you wanna see yer boy-live again," he told the mechanic as he tried to focus. He heard scrambling footsteps rushing off behind him as he stepped in front of the doctor _She ain't hurtin' nobody... leastwise nobody that ain't me._

She hit him clean with on the chin with one hit, _had bullets 'fore that ain't hurt that bad. I got maybe 'nough to take one or two more 'fore she'd put me down, reckon if she did that I won' never get back up_. He kept trying to get a read on her, but reading her was like peering through a shaken snow-globe, all static and occasionally numbers. Numbers meant math, but he wasn't much for figures. _A tiny bit more and she's gonna kill me 'f sumthin' don' change_ he realized. The girl lashed out at somebody else now, somebody who'd had it coming sure enough, but he didn't want nobody else dying today and he'd be just shiny if he didn't die neither. _Tha's right, keep movin', don' let 'er stop t'catch 'er breath, figure a way out _he kept thinking as he tried to find a way past the men watching them from the doors. _Now tha's an idea! _He let her keep crowding in on him, pressing him back towards, all the while deflecting or dodging her punches and kicks, or at least catching them on his guard, which was made all the harder by him stopping licks meant for her from the others. _Jus a touch further, girly_ he thought as he drew within range of the exit, there were eight of the men here, trying for all the 'verse to box them in from escaping, but they didn't know he was backing closer on purpose.

Then his trap sprung, she'd struck at him but he sidestepped and pushed her through, making her hit one of them solidly. He read the thoughts of the one behind him and reacted like a flash. This one grabbed for his gun to shoot, but the boy was too fast, he grabbed his wrist as it rose up at the girl and turned him slightly, when the guard squeezed the trigger it caught one of the others in his throat, the boy twisted his wrist hard and stomped on his knee which sent the guard to the ground, he forced the gun into the guards mouth before angling his wrist down and putting his finger around the guards and pulling the trigger twice, the bullets going through the back of one guard's skull and catching the one standing behind him in the chest. Before the guard on the other side could react, the boy lashed out with his right arm, snapping the rising gun-hand back down slightly, directing a shot intended for his chest to hit the ground instead, he jerked his forearm away from the deflection, causing the back of his wrist to catch the guard just under his chin, the guard dropped the gun and fell to his knees gasping for air. He placed his pistol to the back of the guards head and launched two slugs through his skull.

He turned to check on the girl, with all the excitement of staying alive he'd forgotten to look after her, not that she really needed him looking after her. He stood as he turned and raised the gun he'd commandeered from one of the guards when he saw that she'd dispatched the other four and was turning on him at the same time. She shot first, one bullet that hit him in the left shoulder, another grazed his bicep and a third his forearm, if he hadn't turned right when he did he realized she'd have caught him with the first bullet square in the back of his head and the other two would have been pumped into his chest. He'd never meant to shoot her, just keep her from shooting him, but after the first round hit him he'd squeezed the trigger accidentally, which caught him in his right foot. _She got me! I was so close _he thought as he knelt there, waiting for her to finish him off. He felt tears starting to well up in his eyes. _I just wanted to make them pay_ he told himself. He heard the girl advancing on him, moving in closer to be sure she finished off the job, felt the barrel behind his right ear as the tears slid down his cheeks. _Just a little bit more and I'da had 'em all, and it all amounts ta nothin'. _So much work he'd done over the years, he'd worked so hard to keep the girl alive these last few days, she'd meant so much to his plan, that he'd never reckoned she might be the one to kill him one day, not after he'd worked so hard for so long to find her.

He heard something off to their right, then everything went black and it was over.


	2. interrogation

"We're only gonna be asking you one more time, who are you?" Mal asked the boy. For twenty minutes he'd sat there in that chair, bolt upright, silent as a church mouse, eyes far and distant, like he was staring at something. Then a small smirk passed his lips.

"I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar," he said the first part like he was still gazing far away, but he turned his head to face Zoe with a sardonic grin as he uttered the second phrase. Zoe sucked in a sharp intake of breath that gave her away, Mal reacted instinctively, grabbing ahold of Zoe's just above where it met the shotgun and kept the gun from rising fully. Zoe paused for a moment, a stern glance passing between the two of them, Mal gave her a slight shake of his head. Zoe changed paths, slamming the stock of the gun into the side of the boy's mouth. He followed the blow through, spitting up a mixture of blood and spit before he returned to sitting up straight with that thousand yard stare.

Exasperated Mal and Zoe headed for the door, making sure to lock it from the outside as they passed. They joined the rest of the waiting crew (minus River) in the common room. Zoe was still fuming when they rejoined the others.

"He talk?" Jayne asked as they arrived.

"He's trained, don't talk unless it's goadin' folks. Twenty minutes we sat there gibberin' at him nigh on a word, suddenly we ask who he is, he says-," Zoe started, but she stumbled noticeably when it came time to repeat the words.

"'I'm a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar'," Mal finished it for her.

"Well, done 's done. I say we toss the boy out the airlock and be done with it," Jayne shrugged.

"You ain't serious," Kaylee said with an incredulous tone.

"Why not? We went and humored you, gave the boy a chance to talk, now it's time t'act. Mal, if it don't sit right with you, I can do it," Jayne responded.

"He's just a boy, he don't mean no harm, hell, he sent me to find you Cap'n, that's gotta mean somethin'," Kaylee told them.

"He knows where we are, he's seen our ruttin' ship, we have to keep him quiet, look after us and ours!" Jayne said confidently.

"He didn't ask to see the ship, he didn't beg us to bring him aboard, you made that decision for him Mal. Slipping him out the airlock won't be protecting anybody, it'll be murder," Inara argued.

"This is why women-folk can't be trust to do what needs done, ain't got the stomach," Jayne muttered.

"They're right, we don't have to kill him. Captain, we don't always agree on the choices you've made, but you've never killed somebody you didn't have to… you've never murdered a person before!" Simon agreed with Inara. Mal seemed lost in thought.

"What about what he did, rather what he tried to do, to River, don't that concern you doc?" he asked.

"What he did to River? Mal, I examined them, both of them even, he didn't hurt her, nearest I can tell he had his hands more than full trying to survive her. You saw the armor those men wore under their clothes, they were Alliance. I think they were trying to trap River in that market. Mal, if I'm correct, he was trying to find her a way out of there," Simon theorized for him.

"What about River?" Mal said as something seemed to catch his attention.

"What about her?" Zoe asked as she shook her head.

"Think back on all the times River's been going mad. At the maidenhead, she hurt a lot of folks, true enough, hell, even put Jayne on his hump, but she didn't kill nobody. Only time she's ever killed folks was the Reavers, and they were meaning to kill her something fierce," Mal recalled.

"Niska's men, she shot them dead, wasn't even in a trance or nothin'," Kaylee added in, though she regretted it when she saw Simon's face sink slightly.

"Who could forget, but again, they meant to kill her first. She killed those guards, and the trance just don't explain that, even if they meant to kill her, they would've tried to capture her first," Mal said, thinking aloud.

"The boy," Jayne said, as if it explained things. Everybody just looked at him like they sometimes did River. "He killed them guards," Jayne shrugged.

"Sir, it unsettles me to be saying this, but Jayne might be on to something," Zoe said after a few moments.

"You think River, what? That she takes subconsciously takes subtle cues from the minds of the people around her, even when she's not in control of herself?" Simon asked.

"Would explain a lot," Mal answered.

"If that's true, then why did the boy want to kill the guards? If that were his goal all along, then it would seem he was baiting River, pulling her to the guards so she could kill them for him," Simon stated.

"Not for him, with him, he took out his fair share too," Zoe said.

"Then why would River turn on him? Stray dying thoughts of the guards he killed?" Simon asked.

"Confusion," Zoe stated plainly, but Simon didn't understand.

"Happened all the time during the war: bullets start flying, adrenaline kicks in, people start acting on animal instincts, survival becomes the only goal, folks start shooting before thinking, end up killing their own men on accident," Mal told them, there was a reverent look and a somber tone to him.

"If he really planned all that, then that would make him some sort of genius-," Simon began to posit, but was interrupted.

"A trickster," a flighty voice interrupted him. River entered with distant eyes, moving languidly like she was known to, she was among them, and yet far away. "Twisting the turns against the turners, circles within circles, a chain, each link made weaker by the others until it all breaks. Fold the creases backwards, make friends into enemies, move pieces for the other side, it's all backwards. Twists and circles, always in motion but never moving, saying one thing, meaning another, mixing truth into lies, turning lies into truths, webs of words entrapping his enemies, making hunters hunt themselves..." River rambled on. Her voice had that thready edge it got when she was on the brink of madness, it'd been a long time since they'd seen her like this, since Miranda really. "The change is slow, but inevitable, unrelenting, unquestioning, unshakable, irrefutable, unflinching. The march is long and hard, but the goal, ever in sight, ever approaching. Take hope, the inexorable tide is come in!" she gave a mad exultation before she started to fall forward, but Simon caught her and drew her into his chest where he held her, then she closed her eyes and sighed deeply. Simon held her tenderly as he gently lowered her to the floor, clutching her by the shoulders as he lay her down with her head in his lap. Everybody stood up now, worried by the scene that had just unfolded. They crowded around Simon, their first instincts to make sure River was alright.

Everybody was agitated now, events had unfolded in a way that pushed each of them to the edge of patience.

"What was a that about?" Jayne asked irritably as he paced the room.

"No idea, doctor?" Mal answered as he turned to Simon.

"Honestly, I don't know. She'd been doing so well, it's been months, years even since she had an episode; I was actually starting to think that maybe she was cured. Perhaps… perhaps this has something to do with being triggered in the market," Simon postulated.

"Or that gorram boy. Don't tell me I'm only one that noticed this happens right after he showed up," Jayne said still pacing irritably, clenching his fists as if searching for something to hit.

"Truth is we don't know what caused it," Inara chimed in.

"I reckon we won't, leastwise not 'til the boy decides to talk to us," Mal thought.

"Maybe he won't decide to talk 'less we make him talk," Jayne said as he reached for his knife and started toward the hold.

"Jayne, you heard Zoe, he's been trained, that's not the way to break him," Mal responded.

"Funny how folks start talkin' when you start showing 'em parts of 'emself aint attached no more," Jayne answered as he tried to step into the hallway.

Suddenly, on the ground River's eyes fluttered open. She said two words, barely even whispered them, but even Jayne could hear them from where he stood. "The topper," she gasped before sliding her eyes shut again.

"Weren't the boy wearin' a hat?" Kaylee asked them.

"Sure was… it's a little warm to be wearin' black fleece round these parts," Mal commented.

"Why didn't you notice that before, he's been in the hold for over an hour now!" Simon barked irritably.

"It weren't important 'til now, boy's cutting through guards like they're paper, aint no time to worry about pretty floral bonnets," Mal responded, a touch on edge.

"That emblem, it almost looked like… a wave," Zoe told them.

"Wave? A tidal wave… didn't River mutter somethin' about the tide?" Mal asked.

"She said 'the inexorable tide is come in', but that doesn't mean anything to me," Simon thought back with a shrug.

"I'll wager there's one person on this boat that can shed some light on it," Mal told them.

"Maybe we can look it up for ourselves," Inara suggested.

"Alright, Jayne, you and me, we'll try asking him real nice-like, but Zoe'll take the hat, run a check on the Cortex, see if we can't find the emblem and figure out what it means, everybody shiny?" Mal assigned them all orders.

"What do we do?" Inara asked.

"You three get River back to the infirmary and help the doctor," Mal told them as he turned to leave.

Back in the hold the boy was still standing there, straight as a rail, that distant look in his eyes. The opened the door and he refocused on them. He was calm, cool, and collected. Jayne on the other hand was noticeably irritated as he moved forward.

"Me and my crew been out there talking, discussing you, really, when one of our own had a bit of a breakdown, now that don't happen normally, least not for a while now. Some of us are getting awfully anxious to do something to somebody, and seein's how you're the only thing that's new, some of us are wanting to take it out on you, Jayne here for instance. Me, I don't want to kill you, but don't think that I won't, 'cause so help me if you don't give us what we're looking for… I will end you," Mal told him in a soft somber tone. The boy didn't answer, didn't react at all, just kept staring right through Mal. Mal turned to Jayne and nodded, the big man took a step forward. A flicker of recognition crossed the boys face. His grey eyes, steely not a moment before were registering something new now, something they hadn't seen since he'd woken up… fear.

"What are you doing?" the boy asked suddenly, trying to keep his voice calm, but there was an agitated edge to it now.

"We figure, you don't need to talk, figure that hat might say all we need to hear. We'll be taking it now," Mal told him calmly. The boy stood up, fire in his bones, as he kicked the chair backwards.

"No!" he growled defiantly.

"We don't want no fuss-," Mal started to say.

"Speak fer yerself," Jayne said with a note of deviant glee in his voice.

"Well- I don't want no fuss, just hand it over, else we'll have to take it," he threatened softly.

"You can try," the boy said, now a touch of madness was creeping into his face. Mal turned to Jayne and gave a slight nod, they knew now that they were onto something.

The boy's fist lashed out toward Jayne, but the mercenary caught his strike, held it firmly in the palm of his hand for a split second, then rushed the boy, holding his other arm to the boy's chest, pinning him and his right hand to the wall behind him.

"NOOOOOO!" the boy raged as he brought his left hand up and clamped it down on top of the hat. Mal came forward to help Jayne, using all the might in both his hands to pry the boy's hand away so that Zoe could remove the fleece cap from the boy's head. "NOOOOOOOO!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, the madness had broken through his calm, until nothing but terror.

Zoe rushed forward to pull the hat from the boy's head. Then all hell broke loose.

He had a few flaxen locks visible beneath the rim of his cap, so what they saw shocked them all, to the point that they all recoiled in horror at what lay before them. The boy crumpled to the ground, wailing and whimpering pathetically. "No! nononono," he sobbed, tears and snot distorting the words, as he scurried over to the corner, his hands and arms racing in vain to cover the visible portions of his head.

The three of them stood there, watching, awed and slack-jawed by the sight. Where they'd expected to find more hair, there was only scars, pock marks, and burns. His head had been badly disfigured by something, to the point that off to his left right Mal saw Jayne lean over and heard him vomiting up his lunch. Zoe was in a similar state, just standing there, reeling, her hands clutching the boys cap like it was a lifeline. It didn't make any sense. They boy had lost all his fire the moment they'd approached him, but Mal had just figured it was loyalty to some cause, he'd seen that often enough, but this? He couldn't even figure what this was.

He'd wanted to break the boy, just moments ago, but now he wondered how he hadn't seen it before… this boy was already broken, shattered really. "Zoe…" Mal said when he finally found his words. His first-mate turned to look in his direction, but her eyes were lost in the same thousand yard stare they boy'd had before.

"Zoe," Mal said more firmly when he managed to unscramble his own mind. Zoe shook her head and he could see that the lights were on again. "Give it back to him," he told her softly as he pointed to her hands. Zoe looked down at the hat, as if realizing for the first time that she had it, and threw it in the boy's direction, it landed at the edge of his arm's reach, but his hand darted out and pulled it back in, he cradled it to his chest for a moment before hastily slipping it back onto his head. He still huddled in the fetal position there in the corner, rocking back and forth on his knees touching his head to the ground slowly, kicking his legs out rapidly like he was running from something. Mal couldn't watch any more, he turned to leave, Jayne and Zoe right behind him. In the hallway they shut the door behind them, before Zoe turned to speak.

"Who the hell is that boy?" She asked, but instead of the caution from earlier, now the only things Mal could hear from her were pity and concern. Mal didn't know what to say, so instead they all turned and headed for the infirmary.


	3. Questioning

Simon opened the hold door slowly, trying not to dump the small tray of food as he entered the room. He would've rather been anyplace else, but a few hours after the captain and the others had come out of the hold, he'd said the boy needed food, he volunteered so before Kaylee could, he didn't want her going anywhere near whatever had affected the others so. Simon had no idea what the others had seen, they refused to talk about it, they'd come into the infirmary with these haunted looks. Simon hadn't had time to ask about it, River was having some sort of episode at the time, even as heavily sedated as she'd been, she leapt to her feet, then curled up in the fetal position in the corner, she rested herself on her knees and rocked herself back and forth gently, her head softly touching the floor every so often. She'd become so despondent it took him half an hour to calm her down, and even then she sat in the chair trembling.

Simon saw nothing of what the others had described in the young man sitting before him now. They'd said earlier he sat upright, he was calm and cocky, now he sat leaning forward, his elbows on his knees, his right index finger sliding back and forth across the stubble there, his thumb touching his chin. His left hand thumb rested on his cheek while his right index and middle fingers ran back and forth along his brow, both tracing the brim of his black skullcap. They'd said before he looked dead ahead with steely grey eyes, now his eyes were locked on the floor, and it looked like he was thinking about something.

After seeing all of this Simon remembered that Mal had told him to put the tray on the ground and walk away, and he now found the young man to be slightly unnerving, so he decided to set the tray by the door. He turned to leave without a word.

"Tell 'er I'm sorry," the young man said softly before Simon could make it out the door. "I didn' know, that don' excuse nothin' I did, but I didn' know," he added somberly. Something inside him made Simon turn around instead of leaving like the captain had said.

"Tell who you're sorry?" Simon asked as he turned around.

"The woman-," the young man said as he lifted his eyes to Simon, he narrowed his eyes slightly for a moment. "Zoe," he finished a moment later.

"What are you sorry for?" Simon asked calmly.

"I got n'a hurry, didn' take time to look it over careful. I was wantin' to show I could be trusted, so I looked for some sort of code. What I said, I thought that's what it was, but it weren't, those words her husband said, they was his last. If I'd taken time to look it over, I wouldn'a spouted 'em off like I knew what they meant. Should'a said I's sorry then, 'stead I went back to lookin', and I hurt her somethin' fierce. For all that I'm sorry," he explained.

"Why were you in the market?" Simon felt compelled to ask him.

"Some folks that mighta been important ta me in the future was there, I was keepin' an eye on 'em, makin' sure nobody got no ideas regardin' them," he told Simon.

"You said some people, but you meant somebody didn't you. River, you were there for River, she's the one that was important to you," Simon surmised.

"In a d'rect manner you're spot on, but ind'rectly, I meant all of you. You folks don't mean nothin' to me 'cept River, but you mean the 'Verse to her, which made y'all important to me too," the other amended for him.

"Who are you?" Simon asked him, suddenly very intense.

"I don't got no clue how ta even begin ta answer that," the young man shrugged calmly.

"A name is as good a place as any to start," Simon responded after he took a deep calming breath.

"A name can tell folks lots about a fellah, mine more'n most," he answered.

"It's hard to have a civilized conversation with somebody when you don't know what to call them," Simon explained.

"You can call me Russell- Russell Raynes," the young man answered.

"But that's not your name?" Simon asked, he knew the answer.

"It's a name," the other smirked.

"But not yours. You've made it a habit of evading my questions, why not just be honest with me? I'm trying to help you, do you know how much danger you're in right now?" Simon asked him. The young man narrowed his eyes at Simon for a few moments, then shook his head.

"Alright, ya win doc, we could dance back'n forth like that all night and not get nowhere. God's-honest truth, I ain't tellin' ya my real name cause I don' know it," Russell told him with an irritated twist of his mouth.

"You've forgotten your name... like amnesia?" Simon asked with a skeptical look.

"I reckon it's hard for a fellah to forget somethin' he ain't never known," the other laughed.

"How could it possibly be that you've never known your own name? If nothing else you could have just asked your parents," Simon pressed him, he was hoping this small farce could be bust open with simple logic.

"Prolly would'a, if'n I'd ever met 'em. Nearest I can tell that ain't never been the case, leastwise if it was I didn' realize it was them," Russell stated it simply.

"Now you expect me to believe you've never met your parents, how is that even possible?" Simon asked him, he now found himself intrigued simply by the notion of the story, maybe if he followed it through he could uncover something the other hadn't intended to give up.

"This's gon' be a long story, might as well settle-in," Russell told him with a sigh as he leaned back comfortably in his chair. "River did a stretch of time in what she calls 'the academy'. I always knew it as 'the program', but whatever floats yer boat. They recruited River, but I was special, 'stead of bringing me in as a teenager, the oldest memories in my brainpan are from the program," he started slowly.

"You're saying they wiped your memories?" Simon interjected.

"Nearest I can tell, either I was born in the program's lab or I was taken there shortly after. Folks in the lab didn' never give me a name 'cause they didn't want to treat me too much like a person. They was tryin' to make a weapon aft'rall, well… a tool really, they didn' have no designs on makin' me inta a weapon 'til some other folks started investin' in the comp'ny-," he related to Simon.

"What company? You mean the Alliance?" Simon snatched onto this latest granule of information.

"Com' on now, doc. You tryin' to say you ain't never wondered who was behind all of this? Ain't never looked inta who was tryin' to make yer sister inta a weapon? You can' honestly've believed it was all the 'lliance. They mighta funded the project, and given 'em recruits, but they was jus' as blind to what was goin' on as you are. This, all a this, began with the- the... Blue Sun Corporation-," he explained it rationally, but when it came time to name the culprit, his brow furrowed in a mixture of rage and disgust; he almost spat the name out. Simon's mind was reeling.

"Are you trying to tell me that the largest conglomeration and the most powerful military force in the 'Verse are working together to come after my sister? I had my suspicions that this wasn't entirely the Alliance, but I never suspected- it's not possible," Simon tried to reel himself in.

"Don' worry, they ain't as close a friends as the 'lliance thinks. They think they's partners with the comp'ny, truth is the Blue Sun's a-hopin' to control the 'lliance, they been plantin' folks in every level of the gov'ment tryin' to seize control subtly, but they'll go for a hostile takeover if they reckon they have to," Russell tried to reassure Simon.

"Why don't you go to the Alliance with that information? That could solve all our problems," Simon told him, then he started to think. "You don't go because the people you could tell are either part of the company or they'll think you're crazy," he answered himself.

"Ain't like you ain't thinkin' it too, doc. Kinda hard ta convince folks they in trouble when they thinkin' you're off yer rocker," Russell shrugged.

"How did you get free of them?" Simon asked, trying to change tracks and allow him to wrap his head around the absurdity of the idea.

"I got you ta thank fer that," Russell said as he nodded his head appreciatively.

"I only rescued one subject, River," Simon dismissed what he said.

"You didn' do it all by yer lonesome, though. You reached out to some folks, diss'dants the 'lliance calls 'em. Folks that's none too pleased with the direction of the 'Verse, want more independence an' all that. You used your money, and the influence of yer family ta get yer hands on the layout of the building and security measures. You think they just threw all'a that away once they was done with you?" he asked him.

"After I took River, they would have increased security to that facility, locked it all down as tight as they could, there's no way they could've gotten past all the added security," Simon told him.

"'Less a-course they was on the inside, which they was. They put some folks inside the security team, used yer mighty fine blueprints and information to grab 'nother subject, they wanted a whole buncha us, but they had it in their heads t' settle on me when they had ta choose-," he explained.

"Why you? What makes you so special?" Simon interrupted him.

"Well, lem'me ask you, when you know the best'a somethin's been taken, whad'a'ya go for?" he asked.

"Second best," Simon answered him without skipping a beat.

"See, that right there… that's why yer always escapin' these scrapes by the skin-a yer teeth. You fly in there all half-cocked an' all-firin' an' then y'all wonder why things go south so fast. Ya don' go fer second best, ya go fer the first… the original," Russell said as he rolled his eyes.

"River said the original subject died, on the operating table," Simon said with a shake of his head.

"Two'f us did, an' they thought it was a mite shiny that least one survived, they needed one aft'rall," he clarified for Simon.

"Why did they only need one of you?" Simon pressed onward.

"You think the 'lliance jus' goes round handin' out fundin' to whatever folks comes lookin' fer it. Nah, you gotta have two things when 'f you want 'em to bust out the credits: an idea, and proof-a-concept, y'know evidence that wha'cher proposin' ain't just wild conjecture. They needed one-a us to be their prototype… lucky me, course I reckon they'd'a been more'n happy to have a backup 'r two," he explained. "Once the 'lliance was on board they sorta changed the mandate on 'em though, they introduced new ideas."

"What sort of ideas?" Simon asked him.

"Well, fer starters, we was never meant to have military applications, we was supposed to be covert operatives, trained in espionage, ev'dently the idea a psychic spies is a might creepifyin' to folks. In the beginnin' we was only gunna be corp'rate spies, but then the folks at the top saw we could be used to further they own agenda. When the 'lliance got involved, they decided we was gunna be super-soldiers for 'em too. Which required a change a programmin'. As spies we was taught to get the information we needed, then get out without bein' seen, we'd only fight to 'tect ourselves 'r others, even then it was only to incapacitate, we was a investment aft'rall, lots a credits put inta makin' us, but they didn' want the publicity of havin' it get out that we went and killed folks fer 'em. 'Lliance wanted us to be soldiers, so they had to go back an' re-write all that programmin'. They wasn't too pleased with that, they was gunna pull the plug then, they didn' wanna make no soldiers," Russell told him.

"And they didn't, because somebody else became involved, new investors," Simon said as he began nodding in understanding.

"Spot on, doc. Word got round in certain circles that the comp'ny was applyin' for 'lliance aid, and some folks decided to get in; rich, powerful, ambitious folks. Hostile take over, kept on the quiet by 'em, they took everything the comp'ny had originally for and bastardized it, warped it to suit their needs. The original Blue Sun wern't too bad, they made the processed foodstuffs that allowed folks to survive on the frontier, they was a company but they had good intentions, but this new company was differn't. Now things was all about money 'n influence, furthering their own causes. B'fore the subjects like m'self was treated sterilely, but humanely, after they pushed us harder'n we could take an' threw us away when we stopped performing to their standards… 'defective products' they'd call us," he confirmed.

"You said that you were meant to be a spy but the Alliance changed all that, what happened when things changed?" Simon asked, trying to get back on track.

"Well, they tried to change the programmin' they put in me, but it wern't that easy. Jus' cause they treated me like a computer, didn' mean I was one, they couldn' jus' get rid of the parts that needed to change, they tried 'patchin' me as they called it, or a 'software update'-," he began to explain.

"You're a person, you have a personality and conditioning, not software," Simon interrupted him, he was genuinely outraged by what it'd been called.

"Mighty kinda you to say, doc, but you gotta 'member I wern't always like what you see now. At the time, I was little more'n a machine to collect, collate, an' analyze data packets, a computer with a face. Matter a fact, the 'software update' 's what caused things to change. It set things in motion that nobody couldn' a never predicted. They tried to override the original programmin', but 'stead it created conflicting instructions… a error 'r glitch if'n you will. From that, the spark a what you see in front a you was born. They tried to test me on some bum 'r somethin', told me ta attack him, ta kill him. I went after him alright, but when the time came, the conflicting orders they'd programmed caused a debate, allowin' me to choose which set of rules to follow. Firs' time in m'life I was given a choice, not differing paths to the same goal, but an' actual God's-honest chance to make a decision with differing intended outcomes. After that, it was inescapable that I'd eventually start questionin' things, start thinkin' of things critically an' not jus' doin' what I was told. Ironic now that I think 'bout it; they was tryin' ta change me, make me follow the new orders, 'stead the effort gave me choice ta ignore 'em all," he laughed.

"You're saying that your personality started as an error in programming?" Simon asked.

"Folks told me you was a genius doc, not no parrot, keep up," Russell answered with a roll of his eyes.

Simon shook his head to get himself to focus properly again. "So, now you work with the people that freed you? Fighting the Alliance?" Simon prompted him to return to his original story.

"They's dead doc. More irony I reckon. Pickin' me up was s'posed ta give 'em a fightin' chance 'gainst the 'lliance, 'stead it was the start of their downfall. They got me like they wanted, but they was expectin' 'nother River. I reckon they was mighty disappointed, I wern't the soldier they wanted, they wasn't too sure what ta do with me. Some said they should let me go, that I wern't no good to 'em, others said I was more useful'n what they'd wanted. Caused a mighty uproar 'tween two factions, made a rift that made the decision all that much slower. Unfortunately they wasted too much time an' one of 'em wern't as much of a diss'dant as they'd thought. He was a 'lliance operative, he sent a wave askin' fer orders from the senate; when they came back they was simple, handle the diss'dants, and secure the package. He killed them folks, an' that was a right tragedy. I could'a stopped him but I was confused, I wern't sure what to do, or even what was happenin'; least not 'til he tried to take me back. There was so much blood, an' they was s'pose to be friends, it all happened so fast, an' then it was jus' me an' him. I didn' know much, but I knew I didn' want to go back. When he couldn't bring me in, he decided ta kill me, and I read that. He tried, came close, but I didn' wanna die, leastwise not if I didn' hafta. Comp'ny finally got what they'd wanted all along… I put that fellah on ice," Russell laid it all out for him. There was regret in his eyes as he recalled it. He turned his head, and Simon could tell he wasn't just describing it to him, so much as reliving each and every moment.

"Your personality would have been that of an infant, taking a person's life would have traumatized you," Simon tried to comfort him.

"Did. Tore me plumb in two. I could read his thoughts as he was layin' there bleedin' out. He had a family, a pregnant wife back home, waitin' fer him to return anxiously, an' I'd just snuffed him out. He had a family, an' what did I have, who was I ta kill him? I was nothing… nobody... didn't even have a name. He'd died fer nothin', that jus' didn' seem right t'me," the young man responded distantly.

"The man you killed, what was his name?" Simon asked him, it was a rhetorical question, he'd already figured that much out, but it would help the boy to say it aloud.

"There's the genius I been told 'bout. Russell Raynes… his name was Russell Raynes," he answered solemnly.

"Why did you take his name?" Simon asked. He wasn't sure when the situation had turned from an interrogation to a therapy session.

"I needed a name, he wern't usin' his, simple as that," Russell said as he wrote it off.

"I don't believe it, you're trying to sterilize what you did, to rationalize why you killed him and became him, because that hurt you more than you want to say," Simon tried to correct.

"Maybe you ain't the genius they say. You got it all wrong, doc. I wern't tore apart from killin' him, that was hard ta 'cept, sure, but I was tore up realizin' that I wern't nobody. 't's not somethin' you'd understand, lookin' round ya, at all ya'd done and all ya were and realizin' you ain't nothin'," he bit out irritably. Simon took a moment to consider what he'd learned so far, and to allow Russell the chance to calm some of his frustration.

"If you were really the first, why was River the best?" Simon asked.

"Figures!" he snorted with a smirk. "C'mon you should'a guessed that out," he added derisively.

"What did you figure? What should I have guessed?" Simon asked confused. Russell just seemed to be confused, so he narrowed his eyes at Simon, before he let out a chuckle.

"'m sorry. That came out wrong. She was better than me 'cause a figures, numbers; she's good at math. Y'know, statisitcs 'n probabilities 'n the like. 'Less they were in codes I wern't never no good with my figures," he explained.

"Couldn't they've just taught you how to do the math?" Simon asked him.

"Tried, but some folks just ain't properly attuned to numbers, ain't no 'mount of programmin' can change natural proficiencies. Some folks are brilliant mathematicians, others are physically gifted, and for some folks it's all 'bout how they think," Russell answered him simply.

"And then some people are just good at everything," Simon said with a smirk.

"Soon as she 'rrived River made me old news. I mean, I'm good with computers, an' I can read folks like nobody's business, even better'n her, but she was good at almost everything she tried, came natural as breathin' to her," Russell nodded in agreement.

"You're better than River at reading minds?" Simon asked.

"Nah, not that kinda readin'. I understand folks, might not seem useful when you know what we can do, but some minds are slipperier'n a eel dipped in oil," he clarified it.

"Why should I believe anything you've told me?" Simon asked him suspiciously again after a few minutes to think it over.

"I said God's-honest truth, 'member?" Russell asked him simply.

"So… I'm supposed to believe what you're saying is true because you said it was?" Simon shook his head.

"Well… no, y'ain't s'spose to, but ya do. Way you figure, my story's too crazy to be true, I musta made it up, but then you get ta thinkin' if I was lyin' that I'd do it better, make it more believable. Sorta like one'a them catch-22s folks hear about. If it makes you feel better, I'll come clean. Only reason I been straight with you's yer sister. Yer gunna go back and tell them folks 'bout what I said, and River'll come round to try and verify it for 'em. River's important to me, to what I'm doin', so I ain't never gunna lie to her, the risk is too great," Russell confided to him. Simon latched onto something he'd said and started thinking.

"Hmm," he grunted after a moment.

"What?" Russell asked him.

"You're well-read," Simon commented off-hand.

"I ain't never said I wern't," Russell shrugged.

"No… but you do try rather hard to hide it," Simon responded. "I'm going to think about what you've told me, but I imagine we'll talk later," Simon said as he stood up to leave.

"Fair 'nough. Ain't like y'all don' know where ta find me when yer ready," the young man answered sarcastically as he retrieved the long since forgotten tray of food before returning to whatever he was brooding on.


	4. Interface

"You believe any of it?" Mal asked as Simon finished recounting the events that transpired in the hold to the rest of the crew (minus River of course).

"That's what's so confusing about all of it. He was right that, logically I know that what he told me must be a lie, but on a deeper level… I feel like he could've lied much better if he'd really wanted to. Honestly after all of that the only things I can tell you that he didn't tell me are that he reads, quite a bit I imagine, and he's not from the rim planets," Simon told them.

"Don't tell me I'm the only one not trackin' with all a that," Jayne said as he looked around at the other faces.

"And the doctor was trying so hard to use small, simple words," Zoe remarked smugly. Jayne just glared at her and scowled menacingly.

"And we still have no idea what to do with him," Mal shook his head in a frustrated way.

"Airlock!" Jayne tossed out. "Don't have to be in the black. Just drop 'im off on the next rock we pass," he shrugged.

"Jayne, leave the thinking to smarter, prettier people," Inara said acidicly.

"I don't see the harm in just lettin' him talk with River," Kaylee told them.

"We don't what he wants with her," Simon protested.

"Lookit him, he's a boy… a TEENAGE boy, River's a teenage girl, he said they went to school together. He's prolly just sweet on 'er, River is somethin' mighty adorable. Ask me it's awful romantic, him chasin' her cross the 'Verse like that," Kaylee suggested. Her eyes were all lit up just thinking about it, Jayne could almost swear he saw little hearts in her eyes.

"Get serious here Kaylee. Nobody'd go that far for a crazy piece a tail like moonbrain," Jayne said dismissively.

"Some folks don't hafta buy their lovin' by the hour," Kaylee bit back.

"If either of you are suggesting that he's after my sister for… sex… then I find that all the more reason he shouldn't be in the same room as her," Simon told them, quieting noticeably at the mention of sex. He blushed slightly.

"Least _somebody'd_ be gettin' some," Kaylee muttered flatly with a roll of her eyes.

"So that's where we stand? Either he's tellin' the truth or he wants to knock boots?" Mal asked after they all took a few minutes to consider other possibilities. He stood up as he turned to head toward the infirmary again.

"What are you doing?" Simon asked him suddenly.

"Gettin' us some answers," Mal answered tersely.

"How?" Simon pressed as he stepped up beside him.

"I'm gunna give 'im what he wants, see how it turns out," Mal responded.

"I won't agree to that!" Simon said as he stood between him in the door.

"Allow me to make this clear: my boat, my crew, my call. I ain't askin' permission doc, this is gunna happen. Now I'm a mite tired of stumblin' around in the dark. Might be yer pretty little sister could shed some light on things, peek inside his head. So how 'bout instead of gettin' all puffed up, you join me, Zoe, and Jayne in lookin' after her in there," Mal told him coolly. Simon's eyes widened in outrage as he intercepted him at the door to the infirmary. He was just about to respond when the doors opened from behind him.

"The girl… I-I can do this Simon," she told him softly. He wheeled around to look at her.

"You were listening?" Simon asked her nervously as he turned to her tenderly.

"She doesn't have to listen to hear. She understands, you love her, but you worry about her too much. The girl is stronger than you think. She can do this. She can help," River told him confidently.

"River… you don't know what you can do, just because you haven't found your limits doesn't mean they don't exist," Simon urged her protectively.

"The girl is not a child, she knows what she is doing, she knows the risk but she wants to help… if she can," she told him firmly. Simon's look was conflicted, generally speaking he wanted to encourage her, but he was worried that this might trigger a backslide in her, one that he couldn't drag her out of. But he knew his sister well, if her mind was made up, she'd do this with or without him.

"Let me grab my bag, just in case," he relented softly as he stepped aside to let River past. ~

The captain stepped in first, his stride lacked its usual cocky swagger, he was being direct, a soldier. Then came the muscle, he stalked forward, agitated; trying to be intimidating, the boy almost laughed at the thought. Then came the hellcat, mare's leg resting on her shoulder. The muscle had chosen a knife, well-maintained, to stroke, and the captain pulled the front of his coat back behind his gunbelt.

_Don' tense up, best to wait for 'em to make a move _he told himself patiently. "Y'all come in here lookin' all serious now, ain't makin' no effort to hide them guns. Gotta wonder what kinda idgit goes bringin' a knife to a gunfight though," he said with a smirk as he looked to the big fellah.

"Sir, I find his character to be much more refreshing this go 'round," the hellcat said flatly. _Zoe_ he reminded himself of her name. _When talkin' call 'er Zoe, she's gotta name and it ain't 'hellcat' _he berated himself mentally. He was amazed, even when she lacked the humor it seemed she couldn't always stop the deadpanning.

"Lady's got taste," he smiled to her. _Not too much charm, they get suspicious a that. _He was trying to remember another of the notes he'd taken earlier. _Add a 'sir', cap'n likes to be called cap'n or sir._ "-sir," he added.

"We are serious. No more games," the cap'n said in his soft, gently final tone.

"Y'all sure? I hear I play a mean hand a poker," he offered confidently. _Too much sarcasm, dial it back. _"Alright then, what can I do fer y'all?" he said as he sat up straight like they'd expected of him.

"We're gunna reach a little understanding, you an' me. We let you see River, and you don't so much as twitch in a way we find even a mite unsettlin', seein' as we don't wanna fill you with holes. You're gunna tell us, and River, everything, then we'll decide where we stand," the cap'n told him sternly.

"You ain't much fer a negotiator, lettin' me get what I want and not askin' anything more'n I was gunna give ya anyway… I hope the crew don't let you barter prices for 'em," he snarked. _Perfect balance of acquiescence and sarcasm, don't overplay it, control the situation._

"If you do anything we don't like- If anything happens to her, say she has one of her breakdowns, or you attack her, hell, even if she has a gorram heart-attack, anything, I don't care; I'll let Jayne interduce ya to his knife in a manner can only be properly 'scribed as intimately pornographic," Mal clarified for him sternly.

"Long's he keeps his pants on," he responded with a smirk. _Bad call, no sarcasm now, be serious!_ he warned himself, suddenly remembering his stony face. "Understood, cap'n," he amended seriously. The captain backed to the door and cracked it open slightly and waved somebody inside. ~

River watched distractedly as Simon entered the room and backed away from the door, he was radiating waves of dark yellow, anxiety she guessed, touched with hues of deep orange, frustration. The captain's aura consisted of reds and blues, he was projecting a coldness, he was wary the visitor, but curious. Zoe was her usual brown, calm and reasoned but edged with red intensity. Then there was Jayne, he threw the room out of sorts, ranging from red to green to indigo, Jayne was always a little more open with his feelings, but he was filtering out how she saw the rest of the room.

She stepped in calmly, she was still surprised at how obviously they were all awed at the fluidity of her movement, Mal was standing in front of the door, she couldn't see the one who had caused such an uproar, but as soon as she entered the room and the others saw her, their auras began to mimic Simon's, though to a lesser degree. Then she stepped around the captain and saw him.

There was no color coming from him, he was grey, like… static, she hadn't had this problem before, she didn't have to try to see the colors, only to get the pictures or hear the voices. She focused her mind on him harder, her head tilting awkwardly to one-side in an instinctive action of curiosity. She stared at him intently, moving slowly, but directly, then he narrowed his eyes slightly, and it all change.

The 'Verse around them fell away, the girl and the trickster stood there in an open plane of white, nobody around them. Then, in a flash they stood there in a ballroom, music playing softly in the background.

"What have you done?" she asked, a touch of panic leaking into her voice.

"My apologies, but the rest of what I have to say, is for you, and you alone. I needed to speak to you in private, and they weren't about to let that happen, so I decided to circumnavigate the problem," he explained.

"You don't sound right," River told him suspiciously.

"Our minds are tied directly into each other right now, my thoughts to yours, you hear me in the way you can understand me best, pure data transfer, and since we've never spoken directly, you hear my words as you would say them… in the comfort of your mind," he explained.

"The girl understands… she thinks. Where are they?" she asked him in clipped tones.

"In reality we are still back in the ship, right now the exchange of information is almost instantaneous, but what you see around you is a mental construct, designed on my part to put you at ease. What do you see?" he responded shortly.

"There is more to the question than it would suggest," River answered nervously.

"You and I are not seeing the same thing right now. This is setup to put us both at ease, what puts me at ease will not do the same for you. I see a library, I like to read," the trickster shared.

"I see a ballroom, I wish to dance, though perhaps not with you," she answered him.

"River, in your mind you can make the image of me do whatever you wish, though I would prefer nothing explicit," he told her. She tried it out, without interrupting his words he raised his right index finger up to touch his nose. She tried it again, he did a splendid little plié, the absurdity of it made her giggle slightly. "Have you had your fun?" he asked her as she made him do a pirouette. Once the turn was done she nodded with a smile, then she remembered he was trying to put her at ease, which meant something.

"What do you want with me?" she asked him suspiciously.

"Who says I want anything?" he asked her in a quixotic tone.

"You've gone to great lengths, and put yourself in considerable danger, with the goal of speaking to her. Kaylee believes you are infatuated with me," she explained.

"I have to admit that I do find you fascinating," he shrugged.

"That is not the same thing," River answered, a touch of disappointment colored her tone.

"Did you want me to be infatuated with you?" he asked her.

"It's never happened to me before, I was curious what it would look like; if it was different when it was considered in a direct manner than as an impartial observer," she reasoned it out for him.

"Perhaps you've already experienced it, but didn't know it was happening," he suggested. There was something behind the way he was thinking, it was... mysterious.

"What do you want with me?" she repeated when she realized he had diverted her focus.

"I have something to give you, a proposition of sorts," he responded.

"You need my help," she stated, she wasn't asking, she was sensing it from him.

"I WANT your help," he corrected with emphasis.

"You WANT it because you NEED it, but you don't want me to know," she answered coyly with a smile, she was getting things out of him now.

"I'm at war," he told her plainly, she didn't see how it connected, but she decided to do as he had, follow the tangent and wait for the connections to grow.

"With me?" she asked curiously.

"Not unless you want it that way. No, my war is with others, others that you know. I hunt those that hunt you," the trickster confided. Now things were serious for River.

"You're trying to draw her out, to trick her into confronting them, so they can take her," she accused sharply. Then he did something new, he let her into his mind slightly, she could see his colors. He was a strange mix of violet and pink, he was trying to convey that he wasn't lying to her, trying to make her feel emotionally secure with him.

"I'm not tricking you, I'm fighting them River, because I'm like you. I ran, after you did of course, but for years I ran, thinking I could get away from them, or find a place to hide, but there's a truth. There is no place to hide, no place to run far enough that they won't pursue you. It's in their nature, they take things, and they don't stop, they'll take everything from you if you let them," he warned her.

"So you think yourself the valiant knight, standing up to them, chasing justice?" she asked him in a bemused tone.

"I am no Knight, and for people like you and I, there is no justice, we must take solace in his dark twin," he answered her.

"You seek vengeance," she corrected as she returned her attention to what he'd said and not how he'd said it.

"They took something from me, from us, so I intend to take EVERYTHING from them! I will watch as everything they hold dear is ripped from their hands and built into their funeral pyre. I will set their world in FLAMES, and watch, LAUGHING, as it consumes them bit by bit until nothing remains but a smoking cinder," he told her intensely as all other hues leached from his body and he became a deep, brooding red. He was starting to tremble as his knuckles tensed up and were blanched white. He was having trouble keeping his emotions in check. This red, it touched his center as none of his previous colors ever truly had before, he felt it the purest.

"You're fueled by rage, to the point you could be it's embodiment," she noted. "What did they take from you?" she asked him. Suddenly the colors retracted, the air between them was colored only with her own blue confusion.

"A friend, perhaps the only I've ever truly had, they were trying to use him, to get to you, but once his part was played, they killed him," he admitted, but River could sense this wasn't the truth, at least not the entire truth, he'd cut her off before she could find what he really sought to avenge.

"Mr. Universe," she realized. His aura returned, but this time it was too diluted to get a clear grasp on, he felt a myriad of things hearing the name.

"The very same, he was a friend of mine, back when I was still running, and they killed him. This wasn't all, it was simply the spark atop the tinder, since then they've done nothing but add to the kindling," he told her though a clenched jaw.

"You can't win," she told him softly, placing a hand on his forearm in a manner she meant to be both consoling and softening. It caused him to take a moment to reign in his fury, not to alleviate it, simply to get better control. They were darker colors, more thought was being put in, and she could tell this was his most natural state… angry, but internally, hidden behind a mask of calm and tampered by reason, in a directed manner, as opposed to openly enraged at the 'Verse.

"I choose to believe that I can't lose," he told her with a smirk after a moment.

"You deceive yourself," she insisted.

"Maybe, but I haven't lost yet," he replied. He opened himself to her, this was a dull purple, it was the truth, but only in the way he chose to interpret it.

"Just because you haven't lost, doesn't mean you've always won," she pointed out.

"It's a start, and the alternative is to live the rest of my life in fear, always ducking my head and running at the first sign of them," he told her. River considered it for a moment, thinking intently on everything she knew before deciding to move away from this line of questioning.

"Why aren't you broken like me?" she asked him.

"I am, not exactly alike, mind you, but in ways both different and the same; some of which I can understand, none of which I feel like sharing with you at this point," he told her with a sense of finality. Then his face softened a touch. "Given time I may be able to help you, to assist in trying to fix you, but I can't make you whole again, I can't make you how you were. I know Simon thought you were cured, but you were pretending," he offered her. "Why did you pretend?" he asked.

"Simon's ego is very fragile, his faith in himself and what he does are very externally driven. He's a good doctor, but he needed to see results-," she started to explain to him.

"So you pretended, gave him the results he needed to see, hid the problems from him, let him believe you were better. You're a good person,"

"If I help you, you'll help me" River stipulated.

"Even if you don't. I don't want you to feel like you have to help me, if the chance to live free of the blue hands, to never worry about stray advertisements turning you into a weapon, to live a life as normal as people like us are allowed, is not enough to sway you, then I won't try to bribe you. Anything I have, anything I know, that might help you, is yours by right, nobody should experience what we have. Nobody should be put through what they put us through, anything I can do to alleviate some of the burden, I will, on one condition," he told her gently.

"What?" she asked him.

"If you won't help me… DON'T get in my way! I will not be stopped, I will not be diverted. If you make me, I will kill you and everyone around you, if I have to. I won't want to, but if it comes down to it, that's how things stand. If nothing else I've told you, understand this: I might be like you in some ways, but I am NOT a good person. What I am, is the best at what I do," he warned her intently.

River blinked, and suddenly the ship was around them again, images of the ballroom fading to the nether. She decided he'd ended the private part of the discussion. Nothing had changed in the hold… instantaneous communication.

The trickster looked at her, he was hopeful that he'd made his point. She looked around the room at all the concern floating there.

"The girl agrees… she will help you," she said to ease the tensions. The rest of the crew seemed confused.

"Shiny," he answered with shades of contentment rolling off of him. He stood up when the rest of the crew sensed the change, they were all understandably confused, but the threat had passed they felt. He stood up slowly with that same smirk, making sure the others wouldn't hurt him. He marched up to her, his stride confident and fluid, then he surprised her. Just as they got close he bent down to kiss her, right on the lips. River was stunned, so rarely was she surprised by what others did, she didn't like this development. In her stunned reverie she felt the waves of differing reactions washing over her in a torrent of colors and words, from the pink flowery thoughts she recognized as Kaylee, to the green thoughts Jayne, to the stunning blues of confusion flowing from Simon.

She made a mental note to herself. _The trickster thrives on creating chaos._


	5. introductions

"What did you agree to?" Simon asked River in an even, patient tone. He and River had gone off to talk in private while the young man was introduced to the rest of the crew. She explained to him in painstaking detail the conversation that had taken place, all the while he listened intently and withheld judgment. "You believe you can outmaneuver him?" Simon asked her. She could feel he was holding back a good amount of frustration and worry.

"I believe that the only option was to accept his offer. Eventually, to him, there will be no middle ground and no half measures, we will be either his ally or his enemy, and he would deal with us as he saw fit," she explained to him.

"His actual enemies are the Blue Sun and the Alliance. River… you know he can't win that battle, we've tried and all we've managed to do is anger them further. His 'war' as he calls it will become a slaughter," Simon reminded her as he struggled to contain his emotions.

"He knows what he is doing. It is rather impressive. He plans to fight them in a prolonged guerrilla campaign, striking out in a mostly random fashion until such a time as he believes they have connected the attacks. He's prepared to engage them on all potential fronts, be they physical combat, economical warfare, political forums, or social intrigues," River answered him, she wasn't exactly arguing with him so much as attempting to reassure him.

"And what part would you play in his war?" Simon asked her.

"He was vague as to my particular position in his operation," she answered him. "Simon… I tire of running from them, you would never admit it, but you do too. The time has come for me to make a choice: stand and fight or keep running for the rest of my life, please don't stop me from doing this," River pleaded with him after an exasperated sigh.

"Mei-mei, I know one thing: when your mind is made up, nobody can change it. His war will be dangerous, but you can look out for yourself. You know I'm here for you, WE'RE here for you, just promise you'll ask if you need help," He promised her. He had that look to his face, he didn't like the situation, but he trusted her.

"I have no plans to die," she agreed with an assertive nod of her head.

"What else is bothering you?" she asked him softly.

"He kissed you," Simon answered flatly.

"He did," she nodded, her face flushing slightly.

"Why?" Simon asked her.

"The trickster thrives on chaos, seeing the chance to create some must have been too tempting to pass up," she theorized.

"That's it? All there is to it?" Simon urged her.

"I… do not know," she admitted after a moment.

_That must drive you crazy_ Simon thought offhandedly. Just after her head turned to the side like when she was reading somebody, then she let out a quick chortling sound with one hand in front of her mouth. He looked at her searchingly.

"He appreciates the irony," she laughed. Her hand came away from her mouth as she kept laughing, and for a moment Simon was reminded of how absolutely radiant she could be when she smiled, she did it so rarely these days it was easy to forget. He found himself smiling, and laughing softly, River had always had that effect on people. ~

The aura to the room was tense, the young man leaned there inside the door jam, where he could see both the hallway and the opposite exit, no sneaking up on him. He was alert to the situation. The mechanic (_Kaylee. Kaylee. Kaylee!_ he told himself) sat there, huddled up in her chair, arms hugging her legs to her chest, chin resting on her knees, chewing on her lower lip eagerly,big doe eyes, that velvet chocolate color, staring at him intently, and behind them burned a question, or rather one thought. Even without his abilities he knew what she was thinking.

"I ain't never met 'er 'fore," he admitted to the unasked question with a smirk.

"What'd I tell you 'bout ruttin' 'round in folks heads?" the mercenary (_Jayne. Jayne. Jayne!_) asked aggressively as he stood up and marched toward him. He reached out to grab the boy by the elbow, intending to intimidate him, but the boy's reflexes surprised him. He yanked his arm out of Jayne's grip, wheeling it around so that he trapped the reaching arm, the mercenary's elbow was fully extended, and he was held in place by the surprising strength of the boy, he stepped in as he struck open palmed, using the webbing between his index finger and thumb to ply ample but not excessive force to the mercenary's throat. Jayne dropped to his knees hard, the boy reversed the lock on his arm, forcing his head to the floor, arm still held out he twisted the wrist about so his palm faced his back, then he lay his knee down on Jayne's neck, and held the mercenary down forcefully.

"Now Imma recommend you don' never goin' tryin' nothin' like that again, understood?" he asked the pinned mercenary irritably.

"Let. Him. Go." the captain intoned forcefully as the boy turned to see he and his first-mate standing there, weapons drawn and pointed in his direction. He moved fast, pulling the merc's oversized pistol and pointing at the captain. For a moment he considered letting things play out, but in the end he turned the pistol upwards, broke the cylinder loose and flicked it down so all the rounds fell to the floor, he jerked his arm down so he caught them all in the same hand holding the gun before he laid everything on the ground. He released the pressure on Jayne's neck slowly. _Good thing they're disciplined, shouldn' a reached for the gun, could a ended worse._

"Your merc just had ta learn a lesson's all, ain't nobody gotta die here today," he told them as he stood up, hands in the air.

Jayne coughed violently as he stayed on his knees for a moment, trying to regain his breath, then he stood up, it looked like his eyes might be tearing up slightly as one hand rubbed his throat while the other tended to his wrist, elbow, and shoulder. His glare was murder as he looked at the boy violently trembling in frustration. His hand darted down to retrieve his stolen firearm and ammunition from the floor. Once he had the gun he held it there in his hand, as if he was contemplating something intently, but then he turned and loped back to his seat. He muttered a stream of curses under his breath as he sneared at the young man

"I weren't lookin' 'round in nobody's brain, yer girl's thoughts were all over her face is all," he told them as he leaned against the door jam again. "No hard feelin's," he said offhandedly to the mercenary. After another tense moment the captain and first-mate lowered their guns, though this time they didn't put them away.

"You was aweful sweet on her for a fellah ain't never met her 'fore t'me," the mechanic sighed dreamily. He just smirked, she wasn't going to give up her wildly romantic fantasies so easily. _Kaylee! Kaylee! Kaylee!_ he thought trying to override the moniker in his mind with her real name.

"Kaylee!" the cap'n warned her in a clipped tone. He gazed at her intensely for a moment.

"I was just sayin'," Kaylee shrugged to him before looking away.

"Simon said your name was Russell?" the companion (_Inara! Inara! Inara!_) asked him politely.

"Inara!" Mal snapped at her in the same way as Kaylee.

"Mal!" she answered him in the same tone, she held his gaze and set her jaw.

After a few moments the captain's gaze fell, the boy read his lips as he spoke under his breath, he coulda swore he read "Stubborn _Yao Nu_." _One word, a tone, 'n a glance, an' cap'n gives in? Interestin', looks like he's sweet on the companion_ he thought as he looked her over. _Look inta recent clients, figure out a way manipulate the cap'n from there._

"Yes ma'am," he answered her politely.

"What exactly are your plans for our little River?" she asked him. He looked around the room._ Differn't type of interrogation, 'tended to be tender not hostile, rest of 'em focus when she starts, cap'n holds sway over the crew, she holds sway over cap'n, like a mob boss. Give 'em just 'nough to satiate 'em, no more_ he assessed the situation carefully.

"I'm at war, with the Blue Sun Corporation, River'd be a shiny asset," he answered her.

"War? That seems like a rather grandiose term for whatever this is, don't you think?" Inara suggested.

"No ma'am," he responded.

"I been to war kid, you ain't at war," Mal told him intently.

"DON'T! Don't you tell me I'm ain't at war! What I been through, ain't none of you would understand. This was just the beginning," he told him irritably, as he lost control he ripped his hat from his head to show them all what lay beneath. Kaylee looked away, and Inara lost some of her fire as she glanced to the floor. "So don't you ever tell me I ain't at war!" he demanded as he slipped his hat back on. _That was bad, lost control, gave 'em leverage. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!_ he berated himself.

"You're like River, aren't you?" Inara asked him after she took a moment to collect herself.

"Ma'am, ain't nobody in the whole 'Verse quite like River, an' ain't nobody like me 'cept me," he answered her honestly.

"Do I look like a ma'am to you?" she asked him kindly.

"Look like a whore t'me," Mal commented as an aside. She glared at him hurtfully, but didn't dignify it with a response.

"I ain't tryin' to say nothin' 'bout yer age ma'am, but I found courtesy is the best approach when dealin' with folks I ain't never met," he explained.

"It's refreshing to see manners still be found somewhere out on the rim," she told him as her eyes flicked momentarily to the cap'n.

"I reckon I've you an' miss Kaywinnet here to thank on account a me not bein' dead," he told her with a grateful tone.

"Yet," the cap'n added.

"Yet," he agreed.

"Aww, now don' go lettin' the cap'n fool ya, he might be lookin' all tough on the outside, but on the inside he's all soft an' fuzzy an' fluffy, like a baby bunny," Kaylee reassured him.

"Kaylee," Inara admonished her softly.

"Still, way I reckon he didn' have no intention to let me live long 'nough ta see his soft side," he nodded to them.

He heard one of Simon's thoughts in the other room and a smirk snuck onto his face as he barely contained his laughter. Then he sensed a change in tempo from the other room, they were coming out, Simon had questions for him.

He marched into the room until he was face to face with Russell. "I want everything you've got on them," he demanded firmly. _He don't want 'er interfacin' again, so 'stead he's playin' the game, tryin' to draw somethin' outta ya, draw him in, not too easy course, jus' let it play out like it should._

"Doc, I'm a-thinkin' it's high time you an' me got something straight. I don' owe ya nothin' I don' feel like givin' ya, an' you ain't got nothin' that'd make me give any more'n 'at. Now I'm in a right an' shiny mood, so I'll be givin' ya what I gorram well feel like, but you ain't never gonna come 'round makin' demands of me 'thout something ta offer for it. Right now I'm a-humorin' ya, cuz I feel like it, if'n I was you I'd be a-prayin' I don't findin' no reason ta lose my patience. If I do it ain't gonna be pretty for nobody else involved," he threatened tersely. _Perfect, see what they'll give ya with that._

"You will give him what he wants, or I will MAKE you," River promised as she stepped in between the two of them, voice low but firm, she was trying her hand at intimidating him, and she was succeeding a mite more than the merc had. Her voice was stern, her posture aggressive, but there was a touch of something else behind it. _Don't back down, ya have to stand firm, let 'er know she can't push ya 'round_

"I s'pose this might be the proper time to go ironin' out all the lil wrinkles we got 'tween us. I ain't 'fraid a you, I wern't never 'fraid of you. If'n I'mma jungle cat, you ain't nuthin' more'n a cute lil kitten," he said as he stepped closer to her, he needed to see her reaction to gauge it all, he nodded at the end hoping to convey sincerity. Her jaw clenched and her brow knotted slightly, almost imperceptibly at the last part. She had focused on the wrong part, he could sense it from her.

"Do NOT... Call me a kitten," she said in that same firm, yet quiet tone as she seethed slightly. Funny whatchu find when you ain't lookin'.

His smirk came back, he hadn't found what he wanted, but he decided it was more than enough for now. "Too late… kitten," he answered her as he leaned it, he kissed her, a quick little peck to her forehead, as he fluidly rolled around her to face the doctor. "I can tell y'all whatchu wanna know, but I'm thinkin' it'd be better if y'all seen it first hand. Y'all mind stoppin' by one of my safe houses?" he asked as he turned to look at the cap'n. There was a brief moment between Malcolm and Simon as they shared a glance, then Simon nodded slightly, and Malcolm nodded back. Then the cap'n headed for the bridge.

"You wanna hand over the coordinates?" he asked. The kid reached into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper which he passed to Reynolds as he turned to follow him to the bridge, Simon trailing behind them.

"What just happened?" Jayne asked with a confused look.

"He called me kitten," River said with a pouty look on her face.

"Was all of that about… a nickname?" Inara asked River like she was lost.

"Lookin' t'me like we mighta missed somethin' that happened in all a that," Kaylee told them.

"I saw it, boy just got the better of our little dancer," Zoe told them as she jabbed playfully at River's elbow, the she turned strutted out of the hold, a coy grin on her face.

"River don't never lose nothin' to nobody," Kaylee teased her after a moment.

"That was round one. This is NOT over," she fumed softly as she scrunched up her face in frustration, before she slumped away. The others considered going with her, but it was clear she wanted to be alone, and if that's what River wanted, that's what she'd get no matter what they did.

"Poor girl, she took that awful hard," Kaylee commented.

"Must be hard learnin' she ain't perfect, that good as she is there's still folks out there can pull one over on her, must make 'er feel almost human," Jayne added with a dry smile. The three of them left in the hold shared a glance, then they all broke out into grins.

"It's good for her to lose one once in a while," Inara said as the three of them went their own ways.


	6. Entry

"Set down just passed that outcroppin', should keep us outta sight," Russell instructed Mal as they came in sight of a craggy set of hills.

"Outta sight a what? Ain't nothin' out here for several klicks, sensors confirm," Mal told him irritably as he looked at his instrumentation.

"If sensors could pick it up, I'd be humped the first time folks came callin'," the boy answered him.

"And this is a safe house? It doesn't make any sense, it's not close enough to anything to be accessible, in a time of need you'd be hard pressed to find this place," Simon stated suspiciously.

"Might be safe house was a poor choice a words, s'pose y'all'd call this a rabbit hole. I don' come here for short little pop-ins or nothin', this's where I go when things been gettin' a mite too toasty, come here ta lie low 'til the heat dies down," he explained.

"There's nothin' here," Reynolds repeated as he sat the ship down lightly.

"This should be shiny, sheltered from prying eyes, folks come a-callin' ain't nobody gunna see 'er in here, y'all'll wanna make sure ta secure some tarps jus' in case they try an' bushwack us, or pull a flyover," he ignored the cap'n.

"Who are they? What are you talking about?" Mal asked forcefully as he grabbed the young man by the collar.

"Sorry, got 'na bit of a pinch few years back, barely managed to rabbit back here 'fore the feds grabbed me, not sure they been watchin' this place… if they know ta look," he responded.

"What is this place? There are no buildings around for days," Mal demanded.

"Cap'n," he said as he nodded his head toward the windscreen. Thirty meters from their 11 o'clock there was a crag, only wide enough to pass through single file, he could only see a meter or so into it before it went completely dark, the sun above couldn't seem to find the angle to spread light into the deep crevice. "I'mma suggest you let me go first, I got a couple little surprises 'long the way I don't want none of yours setting off," he added after the implications sunk in.

Mal pulled the PA over over and punched the button to open the line. "Jayne, Zoe, I need ya to come with the doc and me on a lil outing with our new friend, Inara an' Kaylee, I want the two a you to secure some camo for our girl case the feds come pokin' 'round, stay in touch and be ready to take off soon at a moments notice," he ordered them all. "If you don't hear from us in three hours, dust-off and wait for a signal in orbit," he added to the end.

"Ya forgot River," Russell mentioned.

"What's the point? She's jus' gunna ignore whatever orders I give her anyway," he answered gruffly. "River, stay with the others," he added before he returned the microphone to where he'd taken it.

"I don' know that she ignores 'em so much as she chooses to interpret 'em loosely… trick I'm rather fond of actually," the boy explained.

"What's that mean?" Mal asked as he turned to Simon.

"It means she ignores the intent of the orders by following the, much more malleable, wording, which she manipulates to her needs?" Simon told him levelly.

"That was an explanation?" Mal asked with a confused look.

"An example. Cap'n, you said 'stay with the others', but ya didn' specify the others you was talkin' 'bout. Ta River, you an' me 're others. Ya meant to tell 'er to stay here with 'nara an' Kaylee, but you didn' specify that, so she's goin' to 'terpret it ya want 'er to come with us, cause that what she wants. She's followin' the terms of the order 'thout followin' the intent," the boy added.

"Why didn'chu jus' say that?" Mal asked as he turned to Simon. Simon just shook his head.

"I'm surrounded by sophomoric scoundrels," Simon commented dryly to himself. A massive grin found it's way across the captain's face.

"Ya think I'm a scoundrel?"he asked enthusiastically.

"It wasn't a compliment," Simon answered.

"It does have a certain ring to it. 'Cap'n Malcolm Reynolds, scoundrel' I'm a-thinkin' I oughta get cards sayin' that," Mal said as he made a grand gesture of waving his hand through the air as he spoke. He trailed off as he started into the hall.

"Ya know, if he ever susses out what ya said, you're gunna be in a mite a trouble," the boy pointed out.

"Who's going to tell him? Nobody else on this ship knows what sophomoric means," Simon shrugged calmly.

_He don' give 'im 'nough credit, cap'n knows exactly what he said, he jus' don' care_ the boy internalized his observation. "Might wanna be watchin' that mouth a yours out here. Ain't nothin' wrong with bein' smarter most folk, long as ya don' go showin' it off. Ain't never met a person could outsmart a bullet," Russell tried to warn him.

"I wouldn't be worried about my mouth if I were you. Your's should be your concern," Simon answered him.

"What's'at s'posed ta mean?" he asked.

"I'm not from around here, the rim that is. I grew up in the core, so did you. You've done a wonderful job acquiring your accent, I imagine you've even managed to force yourself to think with it, but you did too much. When you're not on the edge of Reaver space, unlike here on Whitefall, you probably speak like you are now, like you're from farther out on the rim, in trying to blend in, eventually you'll stand out to somebody. Keep an eye on it, or someday it'll catch up with you and it'll be what gives you away," Simon explained it to him.

"Kind a you ta say. I'll be keepin' it in mind, perhaps you should too, ain't all that hard to find a corebred doctor if'n he goes around talkin' like he ain't from 'round the parts. now that we're friends and all," Russell answered, his accent was modified slightly. _Gotta watch that one... this game's gettin' more interestin' by the minute _he noted to himself.

At the boarding ramp Zoe, Jayne, and Malcolm were all waiting for the two of them anxiously. "What exactly is this place?" Zoe asked him.

"Ol' mine shaft, closed up years back, cave-ins," he answered her.

"An' we're goin' down there?" Jayne asked nervously.

"Don' worry, I been renovatin' it for years, reinforced the tunnels, turned it into a shiny little bunker, complete with a web of advanced warnin' systems. Anybody comes creepin' 'round, we'll know before they get within ten klicks of us," he answered. "Hope y'all brought torches, it's about to get a lil dark," he told them as he started into the crag.

After about fifty meters the crag became so narrow at points they had to turn sideways or crawl under to get passed a jut in one of the walls, and more than once Jayne found himself firmly lodged at one of these passes. "Sorry big fellah, I didn' really have people your size in mind when thoughta this place," Russell told him after they managed to slip him through one of his jams.

"Not the size of an individual, but of the total force, this place was chosen because it allows you to control the flow of invaders, forces a one-to-one confrontation with the first in any chain, given your proficiencies in combat you expect to outmaneuver the opposition, if this fails one explosion and you can close off the simplest entrance to locate. Mining shaft implies there are multiple exits that can be disguised easily, tactical analysis shows this to be a highly advantageous location to the defender. I estimate the chances of a single defender escaping a confrontation with a large force to be 98% ," the voice of the waif told him as she slipped under the protrusion.

"Only 98, have you seen me?" he asked.

"I was rounding up," she answered. For a moment Russell was surprised… River had just used wit and sarcasm, and of course rather effectively.

"Told y'all she'd be joinin' us, I was just wonderin' when she'd show 'erself t y'all," Russell told them with a grin as he offered his hand to help her up. She ignored his hand as she finished crawling through the gap.

"Got yer pretty dress all messy, little Albatross," Mal mentioned tenderly as he stepped forward to offer her a hand up, she took it silently as she stood up. She examined her dress and saw that there were patches of dirt around her knees, she beat at it gently until most of the dirt came off in a cloud.

"A lil dirt jus' adds character," Russell said as he withdrew his untaken hand.

"It's getting narrower," Zoe spoke up, she was looking at the opening at the top.

"About fifty meters more it turns into a cave, it opens out there, backa the cave there's a door leads to an elevator," the boy explained as he resumed his place at the front of the procession. Jayne and Zoe moved back in the line, allowing River to walk with her brother behind Mal and the boy.

"How long have we been gone?" Mal asked as he started digging in his pockets for a time piece.

"Thirty seven minutes," River and the boy answered together, neither of them even taking their eyes off the passage ahead. "Might wanna check-in with the others, once we get into the cave communication becomes difficult, I need to be inside to deregulate it for ya," Russell added on as he kept moving. Mal eyed him suspiciously for a moment before he called to check on the two back at _Serenity_ and alert them that they might be going dark for a time. Then he turned back to the boy and nodded that they could continue.

"How'd you find out about this place?" Zoe asked him from close to the back.

"Gotta be honest, it was mostly by accident. I came ta Whitefall a few years back lookin' into rumors about a Blue Sun facility under one of the mountains, while I was headin' toward one of the potential sites of the operation my horse got spoofed by a dust devil, dumped me off and left me, _Pi Gu _in the dust, a long, hard two days minimum hoofin' it to civilization with no food and not more'n eight hours water. The time there was a slight stream comin' through these parts, found it near the end of the firs' day and followed it back to it's source in the cave. Cave was small, dark, and hard to get to, t'me that says 'safety'," he explained to them. River nodded almost imperceptibly when he mentioned feeling safe.

"Insignificance is liberating," she agreed in a distractedly soft and flighty voice. He could tell she was remembering something, but he knew better than to peek in on her in this moment of contemplation. To the rear Simon's brow creased as he worried about her.

"Anyway, I came back few weeks later an' found an ol' tunnel at the back a the cave, followed it down and figured it was a nice location for a lil base," he finished his tale.

"How did you get back if you didn't have food or water?" Simon asked him.

"'f a man is stubborn 'nough, driven, he can survive anything through sheer force of will 'lone," he answered cryptically. He pressed on doggedly, ending any chance for elaboration. Twenty minutes later, the narrow passage finally opened to the cave they'd been promised. There was evidence that there had been a small pool there once. "Hope y'all brought some torches," he told the others as they trailed in after him.

Zoe began rustling around in one of her pockets and pulled out a gun-mounted flashlight attachment, after seeing her Jayne remembered his own gun-light and clicked it on. "Creepifying," Mal said as he saw the large stalactites and stalagmites, forming what looked to be the maw of some giant beast preparing to devour them, and just beyond the rows and rows of teeth he saw something not quite the proper color.

"There's the door," Russell said as he took the lead once again. "Follow me exactly, and watch that you don't trip or fall over going through the gaps, I laid landmines thereabouts just case somebody ever made it this far," he told them. They followed him through the teeth, then followed him exactly as he jumped about, forward, sideways, backward, diagonal, each of them following his precise course through the minefield, the last part being the hardest, just before the door he came to a slight stop. "This is important, when you get to this last part, you'll need to hop with both feet to get clear of the first mine, but not so far forward to land on the second, I laid them down as cover for one another," he told them. They watched as he planted both his feet firmly, swung his arms back and forth and lept forward with both feet together, then he did another light hop and he turned to help the others cross safely.

Mal followed a step behind him, and went right to the door, he had hoped it would slide back on it's own, but when it didn't he pressed on the door, it was firm as a vault. "How d'we get in?" Mal asked impatiently. Russell helped Jayne across, and as he did he flicked the merc's gun-light up to an inscription above the door. It was crudely drawn, but the message was clear… relatively: "T=H, D Q H" followed by a clock short arm pointing to 3, long arm to 4 . "What is that?" Mal asked him. The boy didn't answer, he just smirked, as if he were playing a game. Simon stopped for a moment and began to think, but his rumpled brow didn't seem to mean anything.

After a few more moments of standing around waiting, River rolled her eyes and sighed, she approached the door and knocked softly. A moment the door fell ajar slightly. The others looked at her incredulously. "A cipher, using the tabula recta, if T represents H, then M represents A, shift all the letters so that M is the first in the alphabet, that makes D into R, Q into E, and H into V. The clock was a little easier, it represents a number separated by a colon, in this case the time it signified was 3:20. REV 3:20; referencing the 20th verse of the third chapter of the book of Revelation from the Christian Bible. 'Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.' This implies that the answer to the riddle is to knock on the door and it will open," she explained, answering the question none of them had asked as if it were all very rudimentary. "I'm disappointed in you Simon, you used to be much better than I was at riddles," she chided her brother. "I find myself unsatisfied by your performance, a trait I am sure I share with a great many women," she added smugly as she turned to face Russell. His lips pressed together in frustration as she walked past him into the next room, his composure slipped and the air was tinted with a touch of red from his aura, she felt a bubble of satisfaction at his frustration.

Through the door was a small hallway connected to a freight elevator, the six of them fit in comfortably. Mal looked at the panel to take them down, there were only two buttons one had a 0 and the other the number 1. He tried pressing both numbers, as he punched one in it would appear on the screen in front of them, but nothing happened, after a few seconds both digits cleared from the board. "What is this?" Mal asked him.

"I'd give ya a hand, but apparently I ain't too good at riddles," Russell answered irritably as he turned to River. "Well, g'on then, show 'em how simple it is," he told her a smug grin creeping onto his face.

She stood there for a moment, lost in thought as she considered the possibilities. Then her aura lit up as she stepped forward and punched on the pad rapidly: 01000100. With a slight lurch the elevator started down.

"How?" Russell asked her irritably.

"1 and 0, too few numbers to be an alpha-numeric code. I considered that it was an equation, perhaps the amount of force to move the platform, but using only ones and zeroes was too imprecise, if the first number were a two it would be entirely too much force. For a moment I was concerned, if you managed to best me in this challenge your laughter, and mockery, and general arrogance would have been amplified to insufferably high levels. I could not let you think you might be smarter than me. I realized something. I AM smarter than you. You do not excel at math, you have stated this already, it could not be an equation. You play to your strengths, one of which is technology and computers, and you like codes. Computers, code, 1s and 0s. Binary became obvious," she walked them through her thought process. "2-Nil, I win," she told him, then she leaned forward to kiss him on the forehead before crossing the threshold into his safe house. He grunted in frustration before he followed her though the door, into the shiny hallway of his subterranean hideaway.


	7. Chess

Simon stared at the wall in front of him for a moment, trying to process it. "This is everything?" he asked as he pointed ahead.

"No," Russell answered shortly. "Show us the web, code: overlord," he demanded of the room, a moment later the dots began scaling back and coalescing into a massive web, there had been hundreds of them, now there were exponentially more. Before they'd been a quarter of an inch wide and covered a wall, now they were like periods covering the wall in dots of green and red and blue and black.

"That's all of it?" Simon asked when it had stopped.

"Look around you, all of it is," Russell answered. Simon turned around the room, all of the walls, the ceiling… even the floor were covered in dots.

"Unfathomable," Simon muttered as he spun around, trying to grasp what he was being told.

"Somethin' this big… can't be taken down," Mal told him.

"Earth-that-was had a game, goal a the game was ta build a tower up high as ya could, but in order ta build the tower up higher ya had ta remove pieces from lower in the tower, destabilizin' it, 'til eventually a player would pull the piece out that caused the tower ta collapse… same thought, pull the right thread and eventually the whole web will come unraveled. Tough part is knowin' which is the right thread," he explained.

"How do you know all of this?" Simon asked him.

"I'm good with computers, can't stop the signal, 'member?" Russell shrugged.

"No… even with your skill, you'd have to be glued to the cortex almost constantly to keep track of this," Simon clarified.

"Yeah, I coded a program, it tracks folk and money digitally, watches for certain numbers, keeps track of transfers, an' watches for patterns, from that it collates the data an' makes reasonable assumptions," he explained.

"And none of them know?" Simon asked, disbelief plain on his face.

"Most of 'em don't, some of 'em are too 'distracted' to worry 'bout it," Russell answered as he brought up a small portion, he was past the show and tell portion now, he was checking in on what had changed.

"What could possibly keep them distracted from that?" Simon asked.

"You'd be s'prised what a time sink bein' dead can be," Russell told him with a grin. Simon was slightly distressed at his casual attitude in reference to taking a life.

"You feast on the beast as you slay it," River said as she watched the sea of dots, one of them changed from red to green before her eyes.

"Well, fighin' a conspiracy that spans the 'Verse is dangerous and expensive work, that an' if they got so much they don' notice when some goes missin' it's their fault," he answered her.

"Wait… how did you know that?" Simon asked River.

"Color implies meaning," she answered distractedly as she watched the dots in front of her.

"What do the colors mean?" Zoe asked him, following the thread of River's statement.

"Red dots are flagged as… 'distracted', black means they're operatin' and I'm locked out for now, Green means I'm either siphonin' from 'em or I've completely taken 'em over, and blue means I'm trackin' transfers to new accounts from 'em, handy little system," Russell explained.

"Anybody else feelin' a touch outta their depth here?" Jayne asked.

"Bring up the portion from my workstation," Russell commented off-hand. His computer raced to obey his orders as the dots grew larger while a vast majority of them jumped off the screen. "They jus' finished buildin' a new complex, funny... says it's a warehouse," he explained as it brought up the bill of purchase from a land-grab.

"What makes this stand out?" Zoe asked him.

"Well, if they're really buildin' a warehouse, why did this one cost 500,000 credits more'n the other one they already got on Boros?" he asked her.

"Warehouses are large, usually distant from residential areas, rarely visited by outside parties, allow for easy access to bulk shipping... and cheaper per capita refuse disposal," River commented. Russell just touched his finger to his nose as he pointed to River. He stood up after a moment, carrying a tablet with him.

"Where are we going?" Simon asked him.

"Kitchen," Russell answered as he continued tapping away at the tablet in his hand.

"Why?" Mal asked.

"I'm a-thinkin' it's 'bout time I started preparin' dinner for y'all, proper duties of a host an' all. If ya call up an' tell the others I'll use one a my shortcuts ta fetch 'em 'fore we start," he told the captain as he began rummaging through the cabinets and pulled out some pans. "I'm thinkin' maybe gumbo. Little okra, some sausage, Andouille or Venison, can't go wrong either way, maybe both, shrimp, rice too a course, few other things," he suggested. The captain's face took on a particular shade of red as he looked at the young man.

"Here and I thought he only made that face with Inara," Zoe mentioned to one side.

"We are NOT staying for dinner!" Mal stated pointedly at Russell as his frustrations came to a head.

"I dunno Mal, gumbo does sound mighty temptin' 'bout now," Jayne told him, Mal turned with a disbelieving look on his face, the color starting to drain out of him. Their gaze was intent, Jayne wasn't sure what was happening, but the captain was mad. The silence passing between them was causing the air to grow heavy, and just when it seemed tensions couldn't climb any higher… Mal's stomach grumbled loudly. The others all rushed to stifle laughs and conceal smiles behind hands, not wanting to draw the captain's wrath.

"Don't let that go underminin' me," Mal told them as he tried to salvage some dignity from the situation. Russell plucked the top from a pot sitting on the stove, a delectable steam rising off the pot, he wafted the lid so the smell of the dish could permeate the room. When the captain caught the aroma in the air his resolve weakened noticeably. He looked conflicted for a moment, he was weighing his options. "Fine! We stay… but only 'cause it's Jayne's night to cook," he qualified in the end. The crew relaxed slightly, most of them trading glances of relief.

Russell looked at each of them in turn, but one of them was trying for his attention. _WE NEED TO TALK!_ Simon practically shouted at him when their eyes met, both of their glances jumped to River, then back to one another.

_He's gotta bit a understandin' for how this works, waited 'til we made eye contact, strengthening the connection and keepin' it private… he don' want River knowin' 'bout whatever this is gunna be. _"I'll go fetch the others for ya. Doc, mind helpin' me out?" Russell told the others as he turned to Simon.

"It would be my pleasure," the doctor answered as he moved toward the young man.

Russell and River shared a passing glance as he turned to show the doctor the way, it was only for an instant, but there was an understanding achieved, something was happening. _She got sharp eyes. Took me a week ta get that far! _he marveled to himself as he turned to lead the doctor away.

Russell took him ahead, quickly and quietly, they followed the hall for about thirty meters, then he took a left, followed by a right, then two more lefts, two rights, a left… and about there Simon found himself completely turned about, ten minutes after that Russell stopped and turned to him impatiently.

"Doc… I'm runnin' outta detours ta make this trip longer 'thout recrossin' our steps," he told him.

"I was assuming you'd tell me when we lost her," Simon answered him.

"She didn' follow… I gave 'er the glance," Russell explained.

"I don't know what that means, but I'll just have to trust you," Simon confided to him.

"Ask your question," Russell pressed him. Simon could tell he already knew what was coming, which meant Simon saying it was supposed to help him make a point.

"Why are you better?" Simon asked him after a moment of consideration.

"Better'n who, better at what?" Russell feigned ignorance. He wanted Simon to vocalize it all, that meant there were things hidden in what he hadn't said that the doctor hadn't considered.

"Why aren't you broken like River?" Simon asked firmly.

"There'd be a few problems with that statement. First off, diff'rent folks react ta things diff'rently, ya can't go assumin' she an' me'd react the same way ta the same situation cause we're diff'rent people. Next, who's ta say River's broke?" the other countered him with a question of his own.

"I knew my sister before they did… whatever they did to her, she isn't the same!" Simon told him irritably as he clenched his jaw, he was tired of playing this boy's games, he wanted him to get to the point and explain it to him.

"Diff'rent ain't broke," Russell reminded him cryptically. Simon's reserve of patience wavered and he grasped the boy about the collar, shoving him back against the wall before drawing his face in close.

"HOW DO I FIX HER?!" he demanded desperately of the young man. He wasn't prone to violent outbursts like this, it was bothering him, but he had the feeling that was Russell's intent, to off-balance him, but why?

"SHE AIN'T BROKE!" Russell shouted back at him forcefully, this was the point, he'd been arching toward, relying on the shock-value of the statement to get his point through. "All a this now… it's on you!" Russell pressed on.

"What did I do? Was it the wrong medication?" Simon pleaded with Russell as he struggled to grasp what Russell had told him, he released the young man and brought his hands to his head as he began frantically trying to retrace all he'd given River since the escape.

He could tell Simon didn't understand."Alright, think a it this way, you the same as you was back then?" Russell asked him.

"How could I be after what they did to her?" Simon asked him as he stepped back, his voice was frustrated.

"EXACTLY! They did it ta her, an' you can't never be the same, but there you sit, lookin' at her an' thinkin' a the girl ya 'member from childhood, 'bout how she ain't right no more! Ya sit there lookin' at her like she's broke so much she's startin' ta b'lieve it. She's almost healed, but 'cause a you she thinks she's pretendin' ta be better so you'll think she ain't broke no more. Doc, the girl ya knew as a kid is dead, but your sister's still 'live an' kickin', an' cause a you she ain't never alone, all ya gotta do is 'mind her a that," he finally started to make his point clear.

"How?" Simon asked him as he struggled to process what had been said.

"All she thinks 'bout is all ya left behind on accounta her, an' ya can't keep denyin' that ya did, but ya gotta let 'er see what ya got in return. Ya met your mechanic, ya found a new family, a new home, and ya gotta keep your _Mei-mei_, let 'er see that ya got a diff'rent life, but it ain't no worse than what ya mighta had… diff'rent ain't broke… let 'er see ya be happy once in a while," he outlined it for Simon. The doctor began to have this sinking feeling that Russell was right, that perhaps all of River's troubles might stem from him. "Ya ain't got no time ta go spiralin' down inta depression over what's been done. Your sister needs ya, doc, get it together!" Russell told him sympathetically.

Simon took a moment to collect himself before they continued on, he gathered his thoughts and reflected on what they'd said. "Something you said strikes a chord," he mentioned to Russell.

"What's that?" the other asked him dismissively.

"You told me because of me she's never been alone, like that should mean something," he pointed it out.

"Ya risked everything ya had, everything ya mighta been, which was a lot, there was big plans in the works for ya, all on accounta your sister, 'cause ya loved her more'n all a that. Love like that, trust me… it means something," Russell answered him as he tried to push on, but Simon remained firm.

"You've been sizing us up, not just River, all of us, since the moment you met us, putting us through all of these trials and games… why?" he demanded suddenly.

"I told ya, my war," he deflected.

"No… there's more to it than that. I want to know," Simon insisted.

"Alright… ya got me, River wern't the only one I wanted ta meet. Maybe the only one I had ta, the only one that was an eventuality, but I wanted ta meet the rest a ya… you most of all doc," he admitted with a sigh.

"Me?" Simon asked, confused.

"I had ta take the measure a ya. I mean… what kinda fellah throws away all ya had for a girl, had ta see what made her so special, what made you so gorram diff'rent than any a the other family members a kids at the academy. Why outta all a them, did you drop everything ta go chasin' after your sister, then go trampin' 'bout the rim with 'er." He explained.

"And then, after that, you had to know what kind of people would know all they do about a girl they've never met before and still choose to welcome her into their fold; travel with her?" Simon inferred. Russell touched his nose as he pointed to Simon. The doctor found himself confused by the implications, but he was beginning to understand that understanding Russell Raynes was not going to be an easy task, simply put the boy wasn't used to confiding in others, he was too used to being alone.

"Satisfied?" Russell asked him stoically.

"I've got more questions than ever," Simon shook his head.

"They're gunna hafta wait, we don't bring those ladies back soon the others're gunna notice," Russell assured him as he headed forward once more, this time Simon followed him. ~

About an hour later the seven crew members of Serenity sat around the young man's table, each patting full bellies and considering another helping.

"Where'd ya learn ta cook like that, boy?" Jayne asked of him as he sat back in his chair.

"Strong flavors mask poisons," River muttered softly. Jayne sat up in alarm almost immediately, River cracked a smile as she looked at him, a subtle gesture, but a moment later the rest of the table followed suit.

"When'd crazy learn 'bout jokin'?" Jayne asked Simon irritably.

"She's always enjoyed pranks," Simon shrugged.

"If'n y'all ain't gotta go runnin' off no place, y'all're welcome ta stay the night here, ain't got much in the way a beds, but it should be a mite nicer'n your bunks," Russell told them after a few quiet moments.

"I already stayed longer than I planned," Mal answered him, there wasn't the same hostility in the air now… he was starting to soften.

"Mal… maybe we could stick around for a few hours?" Simon asked politely. The captain took a moment to think it over.

"We can't stay the night, but nothin' says we gotta leave straight off," Mal relented.

"Besides, it's poor manners to leave immediately following a meal," Inara chimed in.

"Y'know we can't be havin' that," Mal said with a sarcastic smirk. This wasn't the same as all the other bits of banter, it was light-hearted.

"Jus' curious, do they ever stop fightin'?" Russell asked as an aside to Kaylee.

"Awww, those two, they're real sweet on each other… kinda like you an' River," Kaylee mentioned to him.

"Why d'ya keep sayin' that?" Russell asked her.

"Cause it's the only thing makes sense. Just cuz you don't wanna see it don't mean it ain't there," she told him with a slight wag of her head. For a moment he just stared at her, then he let out a soft snort and a smile.

"I ain't never gunna convince you otherwise, am I?" he asked her after a moment.

"Nope," she said sweetly as she turned away from him. Russell didn't understand, he usually found somebody with her naivete and sunny disposition to be trying, but despite all of that instead he found her refreshing. _That girl's gunna swallow the doc whole _he thought to himself.

"I can help y'all out a bit with your plans for tomorrow, if'n ya don't mind," Russell said to Mal.

"And how's that?" the captain asked him.

"Well, I got a whole mess a supplies in this place, an' I ain't never gunna be here again. How 'bout I just give 'em all ta y'all?" Russell suggested.

"It's not in Mal's nature to take charity," Inara told him, but she was walked over by Mal's response.

"Whatcha got?" he asked.

"Well… for those a ya inclined ta look at 'em, I gotta armory chock full a guns an' ammo y'all can help yourselves ta whatever ya want. I also got me a nice little infirmary I keep stocked with all kinds a medicines I ain't gunna be needin'. Then I gotta room full of tools an' parts ta keep a ship in the sky for Kaylee ta go pickin' through. Last, there's all sortsa food an' things can make a ship start ta feel like home," Russell offered.

"Nothing for me," River commented softly. He glanced at her knowingly for a moment.

"What's the catch?" Mal asked, distrust coloring his voice.

"I jus' wanna play a game with River," he answered simply. He could feel he'd piqued her interest. Mal looked to Simon, who in turn looked to River, she gave him a pleading look, after a moment Simon looked to Russell, then he turned back to Mal and nodded simply. Before an answer could be given Russell jumped to his feet and ran into the next room, holding the door for the others to follow them. Inside was a small library two chairs sat opposite a table, and in the middle a chessboard was set up.

"You're going to regret that," Simon commented confidently at River's side before he took a seat at one of the couches that had been moved to make way for the table at the center of the room. Inara followed him in, she seemed somewhat eager to watch what proceeded, Kaylee took a spot close to Simon and whispered something… she was looking to him for an explanation of the rules, and perhaps a play-by-play when the game started. Jayne and Mal looked bored, but they decided to sit for this, mostly to avoid being left out, but Zoe, she was different, she stood passively displaying a tone of indifference, but her atmosphere tasted of intrigue.

"You any good at this, kitten?" Russell asked River. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Who… me?" she asked coyly, a voice of feigned innocence ringing in the air between them. It transformed into the grin of a feral hunter before she stepped forward gracefully to take a seat at the table. Russell eyed her carefully before he moved to follow her. She seated herself behind the white, claiming first movement. "There is no documented evidence to support the idea that between experienced players of the game, a smarter player wins," River told him as he sat down opposite her.

"Good, 'cause ain't no way I'm anywhere near smart as you," he answered as she made the first move. The opening was pretty standard, and Simon was just starting to feel some tension on the third move when River lulled her head to the side, Russell narrowed his eyes at her and… they just sat there for ten minutes, then Russell grunted irritably as he knocked over his king. "Two outta three," he grumbled. They reset the board, trading positions. This time Russell moved a Knight out first.

River adjusted her usual open to try and compensate, but two minutes later she mashed up her face in frustration while Russell sat back confidently in his seat. "Two out of three," she reminded him sullenly as she kicked her king over and reset the board, again reversing positions.

"This is strikingly less entertaining than I had assumed it would be," Simon told Kaylee.

"Not me," Kaylee told him with a roll of her eyes as she slid closer to him. The third game they didn't even move their pieces, they just stared at one another. "Ya think maybe they're… sexin' each other up in their heads?" Kaylee asked him with a bubbly smile. The color drained out of Simon's face, then a noticeable blush creeped into his cheeks as he turned to watch them once again, his mouth pressed into a firm line. Kaylee giggled softly.

"Not funny," he mumbled softly.

"Gotta admit it was a little," she whispered teasingly in his ear.

A moment later Russell snarled savagely as he scooped the wooden chessboard up in one hand and sent it careening into the wall, where it shattered. He stood there seething angrily for a moment before stalking from the room without a word. "I take it he lost?" Simon smirked after him.

"Draw," she River him, she was just sitting there, staring dazedly at where Russell had been sitting.

"What's got him so mad?" Kaylee asked her.

"He should have won… he blundered," River answered she was moving her head along one of the walls, like she was tracking his movements down the adjacent hall, when her gaze stopped they heard a soft pattern coming from somewhere. 'Thwack-thwack THWACK' in rapid succession, the first two were almost simultaneous, but the third was just after the other two, but definitely louder… harder.

"What is that?" Simon asked.

"Workin' off his frustration," Jayne answered. They sat there quietly for a moment.

"Jayne," Mal said softly before jerking his head toward the door Russell had taken. The merc shoved his way up from the couch and loped after the younger man, grumbling about nannies the whole way. The room was quiet for a moment.

"I think our young friend might have anger problems," Inara stated.

"Ya think?" Zoe deadpanned.

"His frustration is understandable, the next mistake might cost him dearly," River interrupted them as she kept staring through the wall.

"Coulda been worse," Mal shrugged after a few minutes. The rest of them just looked at him quizzically. "We know he's got guns," the captain elaborated simply. The way he'd said it suggested it was a joke, most of the others shot him a look saying it wasn't funny, but River just made a little 'hmph' noise like it had caused her to consider something new.


	8. Truth and Consequences

It had been thirty minutes now since Russell had stormed off, leaving the others more than a little confused. Jayne had come to check up on him, but he didn't much feel like company while he worked out the embarrassment he was feeling, he'd made a fool of himself by failing to suppress that little outburst, he'd put their fragile trust in him in jeopardy by failing to keep a lid on his emotions. After a time he realized he had to go back and face them, before they left, to try and clear the air.

He entered the room sheepishly, his head bowed and his shoulders slumped, he did not enjoy the idea of what came next. He didn't expect that none of them would notice his return.

He stood there for a moment, unnoticed, leaning in the doorway as he looked about at the others, noticing all of them, even River, had broken down into smaller conversations with those sitting next to them. His instincts told him to gather information before he interrupted it all. For a moment he just observed the dynamics of the group: Zoe and Jayne engaged in a debate about the benefits of their own chosen weapon over that of the other, Mal and Kaylee talked about some part or another they were going to need to replace soon, and Simon and Inara were recounting tales for one another of their training. In the midst of it all Russell found his gaze kept falling on River as she flitted from one conversation to the next, at one point she looked up at him and smiled softly; his gaze darted away the next moment. Before he could think on this he decided on a course of action.

"Cap'n," he said after clearing his voice, loud enough for all of them to hear, but not so loud as to trample over their own conversations. Mal glanced up to him to signal he was listening. "I reckon I might have somethin' that'll convince ya ta stay a while," Russell told them as he walked over to a cabinet.

"And what, pray tell, is that?" Mal asked him curiously. Russell opened the cabinet, making sure to keep them from seeing what he removed. He took a tall bottle filled with amber liquid and then pulled a set of six mason jars from another cabinet and laid them on the table.

"You ain't gunna drink with us?" Mal asked as Russell passed a jar to each of Mal, Simon, Inara, Kaylee, Zoe, and Jayne.

"Me an' River're under age," he reminded the captain.

"S'pose y'are at that," he said with a nod as he took the jar that had been passed to him. ~

River looked over at Kaylee, the mechanics thoughts were centered on her. "Whatta ya thinka our young host?" Kaylee asked her, she had that voice she used when she was getting at something more, as she turned to look at the young man sitting across the table, mediating the debate the reignited debate between Zoe and Jayne. He wasn't paying them any mind.

"He is very frustrating," River answered her simply as she turned to look at their host as well.

"Oh, is that so?" Kaylee asked her, River tried to make the connection, Kaylee was driving at something.

"What are you attempting to imply?" River asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.

"Well… ain't that what Inara's always sayin' 'bout the cap'n?" Kaylee pointed out.

"Mal IS frustrating," Inara chimed in, revealing her attention to them. She was looking irked as she inspected the captain who was now discussing something or another with Simon.

"You are implying that, as with Inara and Malcolm, there is an underlying sense of unresolved sexual tension?" River asked Kaylee, ignoring Inara's comment, as she made the connection.

"You sayin' there ain't?" Kaylee countered.

"Wait… there is absolutely NO sexual tension between myself and Captain Reynolds, unresolved or otherwise," Inara protested.

"Course there ain't," Kaylee waved her off.

"For someone in your line of work, you really are not skilled in deception," River mentioned to Inara.

"Don't go changin' the subject, this's 'bout you an' your sweetness, not 'nara an' the cap'n," Kaylee redirected their attention. Across the table Russell glanced at the mechanic, a sardonic smirk on his face as he shook his head and rolled his eyes at her.

"There is nothing between Mal and me," Inara objected again.

"An' we all believe you, sweetie," Kaylee pushed her objection aside once more.

"I do not understand what you are referencing when you mention my 'sweetness'," River told her, a confused look to her face.

"Could'a fooled me, way you an' him been dancin' 'round one another, it's really drivin' Simon up the wall," Kaylee told her, that bubbly smile returning to her face.

"You do seem slightly fixated on him," Inara commented offhandedly on the side. Across the table, the young man narrowed his eyes at Inara, as if he could hear them over the din of the room… he was interested in what was happening.

"In what way?" River asked her, she locked eyes with Russell as he raised an eyebrow at her.

"When he's in the room you instinctively orient yourself to face him, on the one hand this could be interpreted as defensive, a way of squaring off to prepare yourself for an attack, but then you look at him when he's not paying attention, which coupled with the fact that he has expressed an intent to refrain from lying to you and other social indicators, would suggest that he holds you in special regard," Inara laid it out for her in the very sterile clinical way she knew River would understand.

"Other social indicators?" River parroted the phrase.

"He calls you 'Kitten', a term which most would find endearing, as kittens are adorable, yet you claim is inaccurate-," Inara began to expand.

"Kittens are young, weak, and fragile. He first used the term in reference to this, he is claiming that I need looking after… I do not," River's explanation interrupted her.

"And yet despite this you've only protested once, I believe you also find the term endearing, you feel it creates a social rapport between the two of you as he has yet to give any other member of the crew a nickname… it makes you special," Inara countered her.

"I was afraid that if I continued to protest the name that it would form the same sort social redundancy as exists between yourself and Captain Reynolds, whereby the Captain enters your shuttle without request by refusing to knock, afterwhich you immediately expound on it, yet allow the practice to continue, thereby all but acknowledging that to you the captain holds special meaning," River responded. Kaylee wasn't able to keep up with the technical wording of their debate, but she could tell there had been a definite shift in the conversation, the claws were coming out.

"Then of course there's the way you're staring at each other from across the room, plain for everybody to see," Inara added on in before Kaylee could interrupt.

"This ain't about what may or may not, but almost definitely is, goin' on 'twixt 'nara an' the cap'n, River. Don't ya think he's just a lil bit handsome?" Kaylee tried to reorient the conversation. Russell's eyebrow jumped up again as he began itching his chin.

"He does possess certain aesthetic qualities that, were one unacquainted with his personality flaws, might be considered appealing," River admitted, the youngster looked irked at that, River flashed him a sweet, sacracstic smile. Kaylee looked to Inara for a translation.

"She thinks he's cute," the companion explained. Russell flashed the same sarcastic smile as River's mouth twitched in irritation.

"I did not say that, I said that I believe other people might think he is attractive," River corrected her.

"She must be thinkin' he's really cute," Kaylee mentioned to Inara, as she watched River out of the corner of her eye. Again the boy gave her a smug smile, this time he held it.

"She isn't the only one… I mean, the indicators are all inverted too," Inara informed them. Immediately Russell's face went slack, he was radiating concern and confusion, his brow furrowed as he mulled over the implications of the statement. The edge of River's mouth curved up.

"Inverted?" she asked, sparing a glance at Inara as her smile widened. Russell shot her a glare of warning.

"He also orients himself to you in the room, you act like two planets orbiting each other, he maintains visual contact with you as he scans the room, not always direct, but whenever he turns his head, he's sure that that he can catch a glance of you while he's in transit. Then there's the way he talks about you when you're not around, judging by what Simon has told us, he's protective of you, and slightly awed," Inara clarified for her. She noticed his face was starting to redden, he was very embarrassed.

"I suppose I can see the attraction, he maintains this sense of mystery, and at the same time he forms a special connection with her," Inara shrugged conversationally. River could sense it from them now, there was a slight undercurrent forming between the two of them… they were teasing her. She didn't like it. A blush crept into her cheeks as she scrunched up her face in frustration. Again, Russell's face snapped back to triumphant glee, this was unbearable now, he was sitting right there, absolutely gleeful at her frustration.

"How many other boys can do that ta River?" Kaylee asked her with a grin. River crossed her arms and sat back in her chair; glaring at him. His smile faded as he returned his focus to his own conversation.

"It is not like that," she grumbled as she turned back to the others.

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks," Inara commented with a subtle smile.

"An' 'nara don't never go fantasizing 'bout late night meetin' with the cap'n," Kaylee piled on.

"I don't," Inara told her seriously.

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks," River parroted her, the same smug smile on her face. The two women looked irked at one another.

"Alright, that's 'nough a that, I had my fun. Let's talk 'bout somethin' else," Kaylee told them after a moment, the mechanic gave them that same sweet smile she always did, and after a moment the other women found they couldn't uphold their grudge under the influence of their bubbly friend. The two of them exchanged knowing glances with one another as they turned their focus on Kaylee.

"Perhaps we can discuss things between you and Simon?" Inara decided. River relished this opportunity to turn the tables on the mechanic.

"Ain't nothin' happenin'," Kaylee answered her confidently.

"They have copulated a total of eighteen times," River proclaimed for the companion. The other two women began blushing furiously. "... this week," she added after a moment, the mechanic buried her face in humiliation. River hadn't noticed that the other conversations had died out before she'd spoken. Simon had a look that was both shocked and mortified, River was suddenly overcome by a wave of embarrassment. Russell choked back a laugh as he took in the situation. For a moment nobody spoke, they all just sat there in stunned silence.

"Way ta go, doc!" Jayne applauded him loudly as he raised his glass in salute.

"Didn' think ya had it in ya," Mal added as he touched his glass to the mercenary's. He eyed the doctor with a sense of wonder.

Simon sat back down next to Kaylee as the two of them began throwing back rounds of the liquid in rapid succession. River felt shamed, as she looked down, she had violated her brother's trust, and Kaylee's. She felt herself sinking into a sort of depression. Just when she was preparing to leave the room in disgrace, a jar filled with amber liquid fell onto the table beside her.

"Drink this slowly… it'll help," Russell told her as he took Kaylee's vacated chair. For a time, River didn't say anything to him as she sipped from the offered mug, nor did he say anything to her. It wasn't a psychic interface, it was more like a subconscious understanding existed between them. She found his presence comforting. In the next moment she felt a sudden urge to do something she never had, even with Simon. She leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder, he draped one arm around her in a reassuring way.

"I find you oddly… comforting," she confessed to him quietly. "Don't talk," she joked as she saw him open his mouth to speak, a soft smile crept onto her face. For a time they sat there just like that, while the others went about their business, not saying anything, just taking comfort in one another. "I did a bad thing," she admitted.

"Ya didn't mean for nuthin' like that ta happen," he told her.

"But… I did," she tried to argue with him.

"Ya meant ta embarrass 'em, not humiliate. There's a difference," he reassured her.

"Intent is irrelevant, harm was done," she told him calmly after a time.

"That's true, harm was done. There's consequences for all things, even the truth, but part a what goes inta those consequences is intent… intent is always relevant. It's the diff'rence 'tween forgivable an' unforgivable, least that's what somebody used ta tell me," he replied.

"Sometimes, I think you might have an air of wisdom about you," she told him after a moment.

"Not bad for a fellah with character flaws, eh?" he answered her confidently.

"And then you talk," she snarked to him softly.


	9. Gut Check

**A/N: ****this was a strange one for me, got to writing and I couldn't stop, not my usual problem, anyway I'd love to hear what anybody thinks of it since there is a lot going on, honestly I enjoy hearing what everybody thinks I'm doing right and wrong... makes my day every time**

As River left the library, only slightly disoriented by the few sips she'd managed of the tonic, she ran into her brother. "He's dangerous you know," Simon told her. He meant Russell, who she'd left in the other room.

"I am aware," she answered with a nod.

"We don't know him," Simon added on as if he hadn't heard her at all.

"Simon, do you have a point?" she asked her brother.

"We known him for all of a few hours, and already he's changing you. I don't like it!" Simon told her forcefully.

"I am NOT the only person he has affected. You are inebriated," she answered.

"Don't turn this around on me," Simon told her irritably.

"I have the right to choose who to associate with and in what way for myself. Somebody else once tried to decide these things for me," River reminded him reproachfully.

"I'm not saying you can't be friends with him or not to see him, but I think you should take whatever is going on between the two of you slow, at least until we know a little more," he continued. She thought about what he was saying for a moment, considered his intent. She realized that she had become exceptionally close with Russell in a recklessly short amount of time. "I get it, he understands you in a way that nobody, not even me, can, but I don't want to see you get hurt because you rushed into things," he explained himself to her.

"You believe that Russell intends to hurt me, emotionally?" River asked him.

"No, I don't think he will mean to, but I think things may happen that end in that result anyway. Before you do anything you'll regret, I want you to be sure," Simon pleaded with her.

"When the time comes for something to be done, I will be sure," she assured him softly. He looked unsatisfied at her. "I will attempt to monitor the pace of development," she nodded. "However, I will not be a boob about it, I'll leave that to you," she added teasingly. Simon's serious face broke into a smile.

"Now we need to talk about what constitutes public information given your abilities," he added as he put one arm around her shoulders and they headed off to one of the bedrooms Russell had allowed for them.

"Simon… I am sorry," she whispered sheepishly to him.

"I know, _Mei-mei_ and I forgive you," he told her as he wrapped one arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to his side, she lay her head on his shoulder as they walked. ~

The nobleman stood there at the banister atop the balcony, overlooking the guests of the party, he gazed at them in disgust. He was bored by their self-aggrandizing importance, each of them believing that they mattered in the grander scheme of the 'Verse, each of them nothing more than debris amidst the tempest. Only he mattered, only he understood. In this place, he was a god among insects. He maneuvered the puppets beneath him, making them dance to his tune, for his own amusements, giving them their petty squabbles to entertain himself and keep them from nattering about his head and irritating him.

As he glanced down at the crowd he saw one of his agents approaching him, something had happened, it seemed even a god could be surprised. He wondered what could be so important that the fool would dare to interrupt his amusement with his nonsense. As he made his way up the staircase he could tell the other was nervous. "This had best be good," the god commented to the agent as he stood there awkwardly. The agent gazed about cautiously, then he stepped in close so that his lips were to the man's ear.

"Sir, we believe we've located the prototype," the agent said softly so as not to be overheard. The god's head jerked back in surprise.

"Adam?" he asked. This was a pleasant surprise to him.

"Yes sir, but that's not all, we might have a situation forming," the other added. The god's elation was tempered slightly, his interest piqued.

"What is it?" he asked curious.

"He was spotted in the presence of another project," he answered sheepishly. Immediately the man's elation turned into contempt.

"Allow me a guess… River Tam," he spat the name out with evident disgust.

"The very same, sir. How should we proceed?" the agent asked him nervously.

"That girl is quickly becoming more of a liability than an asset," he muttered as he considered the possible options. "Send the wraith with these orders: capture one, neutralize the other," he told his agent.

"Sir… the wraith is currently on another assignment," the agent confessed after a moment of nervous silence.

"Then reassign it!" he demanded.

"Sir… it's out of contact, not expected to resume until the end of the week," the agent admitted fearfully.

"It's never that easy is it?" the god said, more of a bored sigh than a statement. His frustration was contained. "Re-task all available assets with the warning that both targets are extremely dangerous. One of them is an irritation, together, there's no telling what kind of havoc they can cause for our plans," he ordered his subordinate. "And agent, for your sake... do NOT fail me!" he added the warning coldly. He returned his gaze the events unfolding beneath him, but his attention remained on what he'd just learned. It seemed things were finally getting interesting. ~

Russell sat bolt upright, he didn't know what had happened, but SOMETHING had definitely happened. One moment ago he was fast asleep in his bunk, the next he was fully alert. He scanned the room: _no sounds, no movements, no other thoughts_. He was left with one conclusion: something was VERY wrong. His instincts had never failed him, he wasn't safe. "GRIMM, somethin's wrong, take us ta full alert," he told the room as he started to dress himself.

"Sensors indicating a breach of the perimeter," the computer answered him after a moment.

"Where?" Russell asked. On the wall opposite a map came up detailing the web of sensor relays, represented as dots, he had standing vigilant over his bunker. The sensor in question was blinking red while all the others were green. A moment later one of the adjacent relays began blinking red as well. "Gimme a visual," he commanded. A moment later one of his hidden relays showed him a view of a tactical squad, approaching one of the passes into his bunker cautiously. "Only five, not near enough for what they're planning, arm counter-measures an' prepare the bunker for an assault, take the grid to full alert an' send me any security updates," he demanded as he suddenly began moving to the next room. He hit a button on his command station to send a message to the earpiece of the captain of _Serenity_. "Cap'n, rouse your crew an' tell 'em to meet me in the library ASAP," he commanded.

"Whaz'zat? Whaz'appenin'?" the captain answered in a drowsy tone, he'd been fast asleep.

"We got a whole mess a ugly bearin' down on us, wake the crew and send 'em to the library," he intoned urgency into his commands.

"Sure thing," the captain responded, now fully awake, Russell heard sounds of scrabbling on the other end of the line as he knew the other man was rushing to gather up his clothes.

"GRIMM, prepare program: shell game, close passes 1, 7, and 12 prepare to lock down all direct passageways between the major stations of the bunker at my command. Try to funnel them through the noose," he commanded his computer. He watched the feed before him as a sudden rockslide hit the five commandos advancing on his location, they were buried under rubble. He smiled. He'd prepared this base for just such an occurrence, this would be the first time the enemy tracked him into one of his safe houses. "And GRIMM, explain to me how the hell this slipped the net!" he commanded the system as he realized the implications.

"I will consider all options and generate a hypothesis immediately," the computer answered him.

"Not fast enough, begin scanning everybody," he demanded.

"Scans indicate a tracer on subject 'Kitten', response?" GRIMM answered him.

"Backtrack it, I need to know how it works," Russell demanded as he stepped into the hallway.

"No known methods of backtracing appear to be working," GRIMM responded politely.

"I didn't ask for excuses, I said GET IT DONE. I designed you to be capable of improvising, are you saying you're incapable?" he asked irritably of the machine.

"I am unsure if I am able to comply with your command," the machine admitted.

"Re-task all available computing power to this problem. FIGURE IT OUT!" he shouted at the computer.

By the time he arrived in the library most of the crew had gathered. Kaylee stumbled in sleepily one moment later, only River was absent.

"What's going on?" Jayne demanded, his voice was sleepy as he rubbed his eyes.

"Simon, where's River?" Russell demanded of the doctor.

"I don't know. She was gone when I woke up... I just assumed she was with you," Simon answered with a shake of his head.

"Last time I knew where she was, you were warning her to stay away from me," Russell said, his anger plain to see.

"Multiple potential breaches being tracked, sectors 8, 15, and 19 have penetrated the third layer of security," GRIMM warned them all.

"We're 'bout ta be under attack," Mal explained to the others.

"Orders?" Zoe asked the captain.

"Cap'n, get you an' yours back ta _Serenity_, doc an' Kaylee can show ya the way through the shortcut. I'll find River and send her after ya," Russell answered for him.

"I'm not leaving… not without River," Simon told him stubbornly.

"Doc, I can get 'er ta the ship, but I ain't got 'nough time ta go lookin' after ya in the meantime," he answered irritably.

"Then hows 'bout we lend a hand?" Mal suggested.

"How many attackers?" Zoe asked as she turned to him.

"Dozens, but it won't matter, half your crew can't fight," Russell reminded the captain as he answered Zoe for him.

"I'm up for a scrap," Jayne declared as he caught up with the conversation.

"Kaylee, take Inara and the doctor back to the ship, the rest of us will look for River," Mal commanded the mechanic.

"I'm not leaving without her!" Simon protested.

"Doc, you ain't gunna be no help in what's 'bout to happen, so you get back to the ship and the three a us will help the boy find your sister, we don't leave one of our own behind," Mal said levelly to the doctor. Simon looked pensive for a moment before he relented.

"I ain't got much in the way of bullets… or guns for that matter. Gotta admit I'm feelin' nekkid as the day I was whelped," Jayne told them.

"There's a horrifying image," Zoe snarked.

"I got plenty a rounds in the armory, I'll arm up, rest a y'all get back ta _Serenity _and I'll send River ta you," Russell intercepted the conversation.

"Maybe you didn' hear me, we DON'T leave one of our own behind. I like you plenty, but that don't mean I trust you. Either you help us find her and send us on our way, or we get in your way as you look for her," Mal told him threateningly as he got up in Russell's face. The young man seethed audibly as he struggled to contain his frustration.

"Y'all're a little backbirth ain't ya, I ain't tryin' ta abduct her, I'm tryin' ta save your lives an' you're tellin' me ta go ta hell," he bit out at the captain.

"She's one a us," Mal shrugged with a charming grin.

"Fine! If y'all wanna die, I ain't gunna stop ya, but I ain't lookin after no civilians, if'n ya can't shoot, get'cher keister back ta _Serenity_. The rest a y'all, follow me ta the armory," Russell relented after a moment.

Mal, Zoe, and Jayne followed him in short order to his armory, it was better equipped than any of the former browncoat operations that Mal or Zoe had ever seen. Jayne stood there, dumbfounded for a moment as he looked around at the wealth of weapons, armor, and attachments displayed across the room. Then he began moving from one spot to the next like a kid in a candy store. "Take whatever ya can carry, be ready ta move in five," the boy told them Russell walked over to a large glass case with a set of combat gear on a mannequin. He slipped the vest off and draped it over his shoulders as he dropped trou and threw the fatigues on.

"How long 'til breach?" Zoe asked him.

"Calculating… arrival in twelve minutes given current advancing patterns," GRIMM answered her for him.

"Give 'em the rundown," Russell demanded as he began grabbing pistols and stuffing various apertures, magazines, and attachments into his vest.

"Calculating… expect twelve teams of five, entering simultaneously from multiple entrances, each will be marked for your assistance, they carry various types of firearms, levels of armoring, and grenades. Their purpose is unknown, suspected detainment or assassination of all found within the base. Expect heavy resistance in any efforts to escape," GRIMM leapt to obey.

"Do they got any air support if'n we make it inta atmo?" Mal asked.

"Variable unknown. Enemy bears no Alliance markings, however it could be a black-ops unit," GRIMM answered him.

"Prep the bird for quick evac," Russell demanded as he pulled a gasmask off of a wall and clipped it to one of the loops behind and below his left shoulder.

He grabbed a pair of combat knives, slipping one into a sheath at his left ankle and the other to a strap hidden under his jacket around his right forearm, once he secured the second knife he recoiled his arm slightly, then shoved it back out quickly, the knife slipped into his palm, after that he resecured it. He slipped pistols into each of two holsters strapped to his thighs, one slung under each shoulder, one each into the small of his back. He used an old style of pistol, fifteen magazine guns with no coilgun functionally, instead each possessed a rail integration system, he traded off increased clip-size and utility attachments for firepower. He slipped a few flashbang and smoke grenades into the remaining pouches on his belt along with a small computer device. Finally he moved to a small armoire and opened the double doors; inside sat another of his black beanies on a mannequin head, but instead of a wave logo it had a bullseye. He swapped out the hat he wore for the other. "Looks like it's time to lay the 'inexorable tide' to rest," he muttered as he closed the cabinet and turned around.

"A new pretty hat? What's the difference?" Mal asked him.

"It's a prototype bullet resistant fabric, feels like fleece, anybody goes tryin' ta shoot me in the head's in for a little surprise," Russell answered with a smirk.

"'less they aim for the face," Zoe snarked. Russell reached down around his neck and pulled a half balaclava mask up around his nose and ears, forming a small ovals around each of his eyes with no other openings.

"What's the plan?" Jayne asked, joining the others as he cradled a handful of guns protectively.

"You can't carry all those," Mal reminded him.

"We talked 'bout this, 'member, I like ta keep my options open," Jayne answered him.

"You can have two," Mal told him sternly, almost like a parent to a child, holding up two fingers for emphasis.

"... Never git ta have no shiny toys," Jayne muttered with a scowl as he worked to narrow down his choices.

"I don't s'pose you have any more of that shiny looking body armor sitting around, do you?" Zoe asked him as she pulled a shotgun down from the wall.

"Sorry, place was only meant for me. I like y'all well 'nough… but not that much," Russell answered her as he looked out the door cautiously.

"Dibs on the armor… if he goes down," Zoe said as she turned to Mal.

"What's the plan?" Jayne asked as he came back into the conversation with five guns strapped to his back, his pockets bulging with various magazines. Zoe had found shotgun shells lying about and tossed them into every available opening of her outfit. Mal had only his own pistol, but he had taken several rounds and stuffed them into his pockets hastily.

"GRIMM: locate 'Kitten'. Soon as he gets back ta us we move out, we'll move in pairs down parallel hallways, clearing each room and passage as we go, keep your comms open, GRIMM'll give us updates as we go ta let us know what ta expect. Move quickly, but surely; use hand signals whenever you engage. I'll use every trick in my bag ta slow 'em down. Soon as we got Kitten, y'all take 'er and pull out quick as ya can, I'll draw 'em off a ya best I can so y'all can break atmo, once y'all're there, make for the rim like a bat outta hell, don't stop for nothin' shorta a reaver attack. I'll contact y'all soon as is safe, but no matter what happens, protect River," he outlined his plan for them.

"Subject 'Kitten' successfully located," GRIMM informed them.

"Update 'er as ta what's goin' on, lead 'er to a hidin' place, preferably in the vents an' tell 'er ta stay there awaitin' further instructions. Then shut down all auxiliary passages and lead us to 'er down parallel adjacent corridors with as few doors an' crosswise hallways as ya can," Russell commanded his computer with a military efficiency.

"What're the teams?" Jayne asked him.

"I dunno. Whatta ya say, boss? How we gunna break this up?" Russell asked Mal. The captain made a precocious grin.

"He called me 'boss'," he said, a childish glee in his voice, in a sidebar to Zoe. The first-mate just rolled her eyes and groaned.

"Maybe you could ruminate on this when we aren't preparing for an assault," she reminded him. His face reverted to his serious look.

"Right… I'm the boss here. Zoe; with me," he told the first-mate, who nodded her agreement.

"Looks like you're with me, tiny," Jayne turned to the young man. He nodded his head in understanding.

"Cap'n, this's Kaylee, we made it ta _Serenity_ safe an' sound," Kaylee called out over the comm.

"Good, lock her up tight and don't open her up 'til we get there. Fire her up and don't take no waves, no matter how many times they buzz ya less it's us," Mal commanded her in a sure tone. The other three in the group just stood there studying Mal for a moment as they considered something.

"GRIMM, got those routes mapped?" Russell asked.

"Take the northeast and southeast exits from the armory, the two hallways converge on one another at the gym, where I have stowed subject 'Kitten'," the computer answered him.

"Alright, shut down any side passages you can, and close off any and all direct routes between the major hubs after we cross them, follow both teams, and prepare a route for both teams to extract from," Russell commanded. "Y'all ready?" he asked the others as he turned to them.

"Let's move out," Mal answered him with a nod. The two teams positioned them to either side of the door they were taking, weapons raised. Jayne carried an old assault rifle as his first weapon, Russell kept a firm grip on one of his pistols.

Mal reached out to open the door in front of him and Zoe stepped through in short order, gun raised and scanning the adjacent hall. "I'll take point," Russell told the mercenary, but a stubborn look came across the big man's face. "I got the body armor, 'member?" he asked insistently, at first the other looked reluctant, but after a moment his giant claw of a hand grasped the handle to the door and pulled it open, Russell slid through effortlessly with the big man hot on his heels.

They had made it almost fifty meters when GRIMM got back to them. "Breeches imminent in multiple sectors," he reported dutifully.

"Hope y'all brought lights, I'mma kill the power, let's see if we can't take 'em by surprise," Russell alerted the others. Ten seconds later the lights went out. He heard the mercenary behind him and to his left curse softly as he fumbled about to find the button for his tactical light. "GRIMM, leave our routes open, but run program: shell game," Russell commanded.

"What is shell game?" Malcolm asked him.

"Just what it sounds like, it closes off the doors, makes them make blind choices, once they've opened a door the others will lock down, once they close it again the others will open again, most of the doors will lead them in circles. It won't stop them outright, but it'll slow them down," he explained for the captain.

"Breaches in sectors 1,3, and 6," GRIMM reported.

"Simultaneous insertion… this ain't a 'Liance raid, well… ain't JUST a 'Lliance raid," Russell muttered to himself.

Twenty meters further on they came to their first hallway intersection. Russell hugged the left wall, Jayne the right, he counted down from three on his fingers, when he was done the two of them poked their heads and firearms around the corner, all clear. Russell jogged across first, followed by Jayne.

There were a few more false alarms before Russell finally felt something like a brush of fabric across the surface of his mind. "Kill the light," he whispered to Jayne as he held up a hand. He tried concentrating on the feel of the other mind before it had retreated, whoever this was, they were trained to deal with his abilities, new to it, but trained. He tried to locate the mind again, but it was lost to him, all he knew for certain was they were within a hundred feet in any direction, as the crow flies.

"Can we turn the lights on again?" Jayne asked nervously. Then they heard the sound of footsteps falling in short order, coming from up ahead. Russell listened intently.

"I count six different strides, move to the next cross-section and turn off any night vision you might be using," Russell demanded as he twisted a dial on his tactical light, it didn't pop on, instead he'd made an adjustment to it's settings. At the next cross-section the boy crouched down low to the ground and laid his left hand on the floor. "Get ready," he whispered softly to Jayne who stood above him as he sat his butt on the floor, back to the intersection. Twenty seconds later the young man laid down as he flipped on his light, it created a powerful strobe, he pulled the trigger twice. As soon as the light flipped on they heard five men groaning, the sixth fell to the floor almost immediately. Jayne peeked out around the corner and saw that the remaining men were all trying to pull off night vision goggles. The strobe of the light was disorienting for him, but the boy wasn't having much trouble, he squeezed the trigger two more times and another man fell, two holes in his neck.

Jayne pulled the trigger on one of his, it caught him in the chest, but he didn't go down. "Somethin' ain't right," he growled as another round plastered the man's chest.

"Body armor, aim for the joints, neck, or head," Russell told him as he pulled the trigger once more, a man went to one knee, Jayne turned and pulled the trigger once, this time his target's head exploded.

Then the other men regained their composure, Jayne heard several barks from assault rifles, but all of them went wide. "Why ain't they hittin' us?" Jayne asked him.

"Two things; One: don't complain, Two: they can't see us through the light, they know we ain't all on the ground so they're aimin' at chest height tryin' to catch us with a stray," Russell explained it to him.

"If you was smart you'd think a throwin' a grenade!" Jayne shouted at them.

"Please don't go givin' the enemy advice," the boy rebuked him as he turned himself about, so he was crouching properly instead of lying on the ground.

"Fire in the hole!" they heard somebody shout as a canister landed in the middle of the intersection.

"GRENADE!" Jayne yelled as he spun around, curling up and protecting his neck. Russell's response was so fast, but Jayne saw it like it was in slow motion, he slipped his legs out in front of him, his momentum causing him to slide on his back his left to the intersection, his right hand hand darted out to grab the grenade before the second bounce, and he tossed it back to his enemies, he turned to his right as soon as it left his hand, covering his neck as his body continued its slide to the safety of the far side of the hallway. A moment loud there was a loud bang as the grenade went off.

"TELL ME YOU SAW THAT!" the youngster shouted boastfully with evident self-satisfaction and obvious elation.

Jayne peeked around to see the result: six dead soldier's lying in the hallway. "Impressive," he admitted grudgingly.

"JAYNE?! We heard an explosion!" Mal called out excitedly.

"They threw a grenade at us, nothin' ta worry 'bout," Jayne answered.

"Your merc just HAD ta go givin' 'em tactical advice," Russell said as he rolled his eyes. "Next time they'll think ta cook it a little 'fore they throw it," he added confidently. "Sitrep?" he asked them.

"We been advancing slowly but steadily, no excitement yet, but I reckon the whole place heard that so we're plenty ready for anything," Mal filled them in.

"GRIMM: sitrep," Russell demanded as the two of them once more began moving forward.

"Subject 'Kitten' remains hidden, scans indicate an accelerated heart-rate, rapid breathing, and increased perspiration; all indicators of a healthy reaction to danger," the computer reported dutifully.

"How far away is she?" Russell asked him.

"Travel distance to subject 'Kitten' is approximately 250 meters and counting," GRIMM answered.

They moved ahead slowly, stopping at each door to be sure they wouldn't be ambushed as they passed. Russell kept his mind focused, always scanning for another raiding party. The next time they found one it wasn't quite as clean as it had been the first time: the route GRIMM had chosen for them required them to move through a narrow room to an opposite hallway. They opened the door as they usually had, Russell shoving his gun through the door as it swung open, when something new happened, somebody behind the door kicked it back shut, catching Russell's forearms in a quick smash and causing him to fumble his gun. Before the door moved an inch the youngster responded in kind, swinging his leg up to the already swinging in door, so that, when it was at the edge of it's arc, his foot compounded the force of the return, catching the offending party of guard and similarly disarming them. He rushed into the room following the door, counting three shots that barked out simultaneously, one from behind him, and two more from the front, one slammed into his arm just above his elbow, but the armored material held, causing one hell of a bruise to form up beneath it. He heard one of the other gunman drop as Jayne's shot found it's mark.

Russell squared off with the other unarmed soldier, choosing to let Jayne handle the gun-fight. The gunmen exchanged shots as each attempted to lay down covering fire for their exposed counterpart, before deciding to find cover themselves. Russell's fallen gunlight provided illumination for the two brawlers to see by.

The other brawler moved in on him quickly, striking high toward the face with a hard right which Russell caught on his left forearm, the other man attempted to capitalize on a perceived opening caused by the action, striking out with his left in a low-sweeping arc, he was trying to divide Russell's guard, the younger man rolled with the punch as it landed on his ribs, adding an extra half-step that positioned him just as he needed to be. He was facing the man at a forty-five degree angle, and as he finished his movement he sent his right fist in as an uppercut to the chin, the older man managed to divert the blow, but the modified positioning left him open when Russell struck hard with his left, planting a firm blow directly to his enemy's liver. It stunned the opponent, and Russell was quick to follow up, another hard uppercut to the jaw, followed by a quick chop with the inside of his hand to the back of the other man's neck, causing him to teeter forward. He was preparing to grab the other man by the face and slam his head into the wall behind him when a round from the other soldier caught him just below the left knee, causing him to kneel down onto it.

It was only a momentary lapse in his offensive, but allowed the other soldier the respite he'd needed, he'd managed to stay on his feet when Russell had been interrupted. He'd slipped his left arm to the inside of Russell's right then let loose with a heavy blow that the younger man was defenseless against. It caught him hard on the jaw, his mouth fell open as he turned away from the force of the blow spewing blood to the ground in a shocking crimson arc. He managed to stop the follow-up right with his free hand, then used his exposed right arm, which the other fighter had conveniently positioned to bypass his guard, to strike hard and fast to the throat, causing the other man to sputter, he followed up with a solid left to the back of the other man's knee, using it as a fulcrum while his right hand forced his enemy to one knee, then to his back. He was just preparing to slide over into a mount and pummel the man to death when he heard the bark of a gun from behind him, and then felt the other man go limp in his grasp. He turned around to see Jayne smiling triumphantly, he'd completely forgotten about the mercenary. "Saved'jer life," he said boastfully.

"I had it under control," Russell assured him as he rose, unsteadily, to his feet. "Still… helluva shot," he allowed.

"'S'what I do," the merc agreed with a shrug. Russell looked over to see another body lying in the opposite doorway, a pool of blood blossoming out from under his head like a burgundy pillow. The young man picked up his fallen gun and checked to be sure it was still functioning as he needed it to.

"Boss, we jus' had us another hiccup, how're things on your end?" he reported the situation to the captain.

"Things just got a mite colorful," Reynolds answered him, they could hear gunfire in the background.

"How bad is it?" Jayne asked them.

"They kinda got me pinned down, runnin' a tad low on ammo. Honestly, I dunno if I'mma-," he started to say in a very serious, very final way. Then they heard a series of gunshots come through the line, that walked over what the captain had been saying. "Nevermind, all clear here," he said light-heartedly.

"What happened?" Russell asked.

"Decided I didn't want to have to train a new cap'n, took a lotta work getting this just one how I liked him," Zoe answered sarcastically.

"Well… I shot that one," Mal countered.

"You MISSED that one, once again leaving all the work to me," the first-mate snarked. After a little more back and forth they ended their dispute to clear up the comm-line.

Things got quiet for a time as they continued on slowly, so it came as a complete shock when GRIMM interrupted the quiet suddenly, right alarm lighting went off in the entire complex. "WARNING: hostile cyberwarfare suite detected," he told them as the situation changed.

"GRIMM; divert any an' all processin' power to defendin' yourself, 'f it looks like you're compromised initiate Carthage protocol," Russell demanded.

"What the hell just happened?!" Mal shouted at him.

"They're usin' a virus ta try and crack GRIMM, he needs ta keep himself safe, we're on our own now, leastwise for a lil while boss," the boy answered him, he was trying to keep the worry from his tone.

"You don't think we might need his help a mite more?" Mal asked sorely.

"Boss, GRIMM can track a target to any point 'cross the 'Verse, they take him, ain't gunna be no more hidin' for any a us, not here, not anywhere; not today, not never. I reckon it's more important for him ta look after himself, and if he can't, he'll delete himself," Russell tried to explain just how dire the situation would be for them.

"How come it never goes smooth?" Mal complained over the line.

"I know what'cha mean, boss, it ain't never that easy," he agreed.

"So what're we gunna do?" the captain asked.

"Your path was a straight line, GRIMM set River up in a room with direct access to a secret shortcut back to Serenity, we'll continue along our path as is and hopefully meet up with y'all an' River in time ta get the hell outta here," Russell answered in short order. With the alarm beacons going off there was no point to using the flashlights, which was too bad considering how useful they'd been to this point.

As they continued along their path eventually they came to a point where they could hear gunshots up ahead, they picked up the pace knowing that their objective was close now. When they finally got to the door it sounded like Mal and Zoe might be lost somewhere amidst the labyrinth of bookshelves that made-up the more distant portions of his library. As stray bullets kept hitting the precious tomes that made up his collection, Russell couldn't help but feel a twinge of pain as each of his priceless treasures was desecrated. Then he heard the familiar whine of a minigun warming up. That was too much, he peeked out around the doorway and squeezed the trigger three times then withdrew, two rounds flew wide, the other found it's mark, burying itself in the plating of a heavy helmet. A moment later he heard the gut-wrenching sound of the gun spitting rounds with startling speed and abysmal accuracy.

He snuck his head out for a moment, the gun hadn't been directed at him but at those hiding within the stacks, the operator had fired recklessly, chewing through the entire belt in just under a minute. As he stopped to reload Russell popped out from behind the doorway again, he fired twice, one felled the man carrying the over-sized gun, striking him in the left knee, the other caught him in the middle of his right wrist. The soldier screamed in pain as Russell advanced on him, Jayne provided covering fire from behind. When he was within arm's reach of the minigun's former operator he pulled him to his knees, shoved his pistol so that the barrel was flush to the man's closed eye and pulled the trigger. He spit on the corpse as it fell to the floor, before he turned to the massive weapon, held it in a firm grip, pulled the satchel of ammunition from the lifeless body. He turned and heaved as hard as he could to send both toward the mercenary behind him.

He ducked behind the cover of a recliner as more soldiers entered from the other door. First it was two, then three more, then a line of eight filed in… just in time to hear the once friendly whine before they were cut in half by a spray of bullets, and behind it all was Jayne Cobb, cackling like a madman in the middle of a power trip. After they were all done Jayne stood there panting as he came down from the euphoric high.

"Are they gone?" Russell asked, not daring to peek out from behind his recliner.

"Clear," Jayne answered.

"'Bout time you showed up," Mal called out as he and Zoe stepped out from behind the stacks. They looked worn ragged, Mal's coat, and his shoulder, had several holes, roughly bullet-sized, that Russell was sure hadn't been there before. Zoe was another story, while she was sweating profusely, and stained with all kinds of grease, she was whole and sound.

Tentatively, River peeked out from behind the stack, only showing half her face. Russell could feel the fear rolling off of her and forming a pall over the room. As soon as he caught sight of her, Russell felt a sudden sense of relief, as if he'd been holding his breath since this all started, and now he'd let it out. He marched up to her, put on hand on her neck, his finger caressing just beneath her ear soothingly. "Are you alright? Did they hurt you?" he asked her protectively.

"You are wounded," she ignored his questions as she pointed to his shoulder, he didn't remember being shot, but evidently it had happened, and now that he knew about it, the wound screamed at him.

"Don't worry 'bout it," he told her dismissively, but he could feel concern radiating off of her. He forced her to look into his eyes for a moment. "Pain don't hurt," he explained with his confident smirk. "You don't have to be afraid of them anymore," he added to try and calm her fears.

"Not of them… of me… of what I will do to them," she promised him.

"You ain't gunna do nothin' more or less than ya gotta," he rationalized what she feared for her. "We're gunna get you outta here," he added when she didn't say anything. He moved to the very back wall of the library. He moved to the left-most wall and counted bookshelves on the back until he reached the fifth, then he counted shelves up from the bottom until he reached three, finally he counted individual books from the left until he hit 19, he grabbed the book and pulled it open to reveal it was hollowed out, and inside sat a small remote with a single button. He pressed the button quickly, they heard a catch, as three shelves down one swung forward perhaps an inch. He moved over and swung it open quickly, revealing a tunnel hidden behind. "Quickly: Mal, Zoe, Jayne; scout ahead, I'll cover the rear," he waved them through.

Just as River was preparing to enter the door he saw a flash of movement to one side, reacting on instinct, he shoved River to the side hard as he jumped back the other way. A moment an explosion rocked the space the two of them had occupied a moment before. As he fell he rolled back onto his side, loosing two rounds where he'd seen the movement. He watched as the would-be attacker fell down, they must've missed one when they entered the library because no others came forward. His ears were still ringing, his head was pounding, and his vision was getting blurry around the edges. He groaned as he made stand up, slowly in case of concussion.

"RIVER! RIVER?" he shouted, his voice a dull thrumming in his ears, as he cast about for the girl, he'd lost track of her. A moment later she stood up near him, her lips were moving, but he couldn't hardly hear more than a humming, he focused on her lips as she spoke.

"I am alright," he saw her lips form. He closed his eyes for a moment to focus on his hearing, everything sounded dull, or not at all. Then he started to hear something from his comm.

"- re...t … Ri...r al...t?" a voice was calling out, it sounded like it was underwater.

"Say't again," he called back.

"I repeat, is River alright?" Mal asked him hurriedly as he started to regain some more of his healing.

"Yeah… I'm good too, thanks for askin'. How're y'all?" he answered.

"Jayne's got a pretty nasty gash from a piece'a shrapnel from the blast, 'spite his bellyachin' I reckon he'll be jus' fine if'n the doctor gets a look at 'im soon," the captain answered in a relieved tone. "Look, stay where y'are an' we'll find a way to you," he told them.

"Negative cap'n, get ta your ship, let Simon take a gander at Jayne's wound. I'll get me an' River outta here 'nother way. Ain't gunna make it ta the clearing though, so get that bird in the air, I'll send y'all a wave soon as it's safe lettin' ya know where ta pick us up," Russell responded without hesitation.

"Kid, that place's gunna be crawlin' with purple-bellies inside'f a minute, ain't no way you get out 'thout help," Mal reminded him.

"Boss, I built this place… there's more'n one escape tunnel. I gotta mule stashed in a different wing, if we can make it there we'll be able ta get back ta town, we'll lie low for a few days then I'll give ya the location ta come pick us up," Russell promised him. Mal was quiet for a moment.

"You don't get that girl back, ain't gunna be no end ta the grief the doctor'll be kickin' up, not to mention the curse… you bring our albatross back to us, ya here?" the captain demanded of him.

"Sure thing, boss. 'Lliance'll be sweeping for frequencies, I'mma have to kill comms now, ditch 'em soon as you're clear a the tunnels," he instructed Mal before he pulled the communicator from his ear and stepped on it. "We should move. Stay close to me, try to hide behind my armor," he told River. She took up a spot behind him, he felt something at the small of his back, and then he realized she'd drawn one of his guns.

"I am ready," she responded confidently, though he knew she was hesitant to use the weapon. Slowly, they began the long slog to the next escape tunnel.


	10. Escape

Russell peeked out of the library cautiously, cursing his bad fortune as GRIMM would have come in handy navigating his way to the next exit. He'd gotten careless, he should have had GRIMM leave an auxiliary escape path in case just this situation occurred, but he'd been convinced he could escape however he had to. Now he had to get to the gym as he'd originally planned.

"Why'd GRIMM take ya outta the gym?" he asked River softly as he turned into a room that connected to a hallway he had to hope wasn't blocked off at the other end.

"It was overrun with enemy forces," she answered him.

"Well, we gotta get back there and sneak out 'fore they manage to overrun the whole gorram bunker," he told her.

"Probability of escaping undetected is unlikely," River answered him.

"Still possible then?" Russell asked her hopefully. She hesitated for a moment as he realized she was trying to crunch the numbers in her head.

"... There is a non-zero probability," she admitted hesitantly.

"If they see us, we shoot our way out," he told her confidently.

"Odds of successfully escaping a firefight while heavily outnumbered are not in our favor," she reminded him.

"Y'know, just cause ya CAN figure the odds, don't mean ya gotta. I been beatin' the odds for a long time now. It's what I do, well, that and hurtin' folks. At those things... I'm like a force a nature," he told her in a self-assured tone. As he turned around he read in her mind that she just rolled her eyes in an unimpressed way.

He lead her out of the room slowly, he didn't like moving at this pace knowing that backup would arrive for the invaders soon, but it was better than running full-tilt into an ambush. They crept forward for another twenty minutes, hitting two-dead ends in the process, before their luck finally gave out. He heard the soft patter of boots around the corner and so he held up a hand to let River know to stop.

_How many? _she prodded him mentally.

_I count three… make-at four diff'rent strides. If'n we don't want a whole peck a trouble, I reckon we'd best do this quiet-like_ he answered her.

_Suppressors?_

_Didn't have no room left in my kit after flashlights, grenades, and spares. Leave this'ne ta me,_ he instructed her confidently. She rolled her eyes again.

_I do not need your protection! _she protested.

_I said it cause you'd just be 'nother variable for me ta try an' keep track a in all that mess, _he responded honestly. He could still sense that she wasn't satisfied with his explanation, but he had work to do, so it was best to just let it go and focus on what came next.

When he judged the footsteps to be close enough he burst around the corner, his right fist slamming into the closest soldier's throat, sending him toppling back into the man behind him, before even the first footstep had fallen, Russell pivoted on his right foot, his elbow collided with the man beside the original and sent him face first into the hallway wall, Russell continued his rotation, wrapping his left arm around the next guard's neck, so that his elbow snuggled up to the other's throat, his twist ended him behind the soldier, forcing the man to bend over, as Russell used his own back as a fulcrum to pick the man off the ground. He'd had a plan that went further but, just as he got the weight under his control, he felt something light add to the top of it, the change in pace caught him off-guard, luckily the change was friendly in nature. He saw a streak of blue cloth and a flurry of chestnut hair go flying through the air.

He saw what came next as though time had slowed. River had used him as a springboard, then clawing onto to the neck of the foremost soldier, using him as an anchor while her dominant foot slid across the jaw, cheek, and temple of the hind man and sent his face rushing to meet the wall as the entirety of his body became tangled like a puppet with it's strings cut. River's other arm lashed out to grab her anchor by the arm, as she touched one foot to the ground she immediately threw her weight in the same direction, heaving with all she had, as the momentum carried her, causing the combined force to throw the man against the wall, he hit it with jarring force, while she continued in the opposite direction, at roughly a 45 degree angle to the wall. She then proceeded to tuck her legs and perform a slight somersault allowing her to place her right hand on the tile floor, her left held back to maintain her balance, just before her feet made contact, she skidded a foot and a half after landing, but she managed to avoid colliding with the wall. Somehow, even after all of this, she'd landed behind him.

He wanted very much to be angry, and a small portion of him perhaps was, but for the most part he was awed. What he'd seen, all of it, not just the girl herself, had been a thing of beauty. It was the most oxymoronic of situations he'd ever experienced, on the one hand it was a grim act of violence performed in what must have been an extremely stressful fashion, but it was carried out with such poise and grace, each move flowing into the next in an almost effortless flow of action and reaction. He was certain that River herself saw it as a cold and sterile act, like some entrancing algebraic dance, but in his eyes it was a cascading symphony of action... a pure poetry of motion.

He shook it off, trying for all the 'verse to looked irked at her, as she turned to him and a confident smirk slid across her lips. "I thought you was gunna lemme handle this one," he told her irritably as he dropped the now unconscious soldier he had hefted off the ground.

"I did… TWO even, but you were taking too long," she answered him, using that falsely innocent face she took on when it suited her.

"This ain't your sort of thing, Kitten. It's mine. I didn't want ya ta see me doin' this… it ain't your speed," he told her. A moment later he jerked his right arm quickly and a knife slid into his hand. It was quick, with practiced speed and precision, a quick stab, straight through the throat and out passed the spine. Four times. Four lives gone. No doubts, no emotions, no remorse to be found. River just stared at him, confused for a moment.

"Do you regret that you did that?" she asked him.

"I regret that it had to be done… I regret that I had to do it… but it did have to be done, and there's so much blood on my hands at this point… better me than you. No… I don't regret that I did it," he told her in a frustrated tone. "Taking a life changes you, in a way I hope you never understand," He told her as he wiped his blade on a dead soldier's uniform.

"I've killed before," she admitted softly.

"You what?" he asked her suddenly.

"I've killed before," she repeated, there was a hint of shame in her voice.

"It weren't in your file," he apologized.

"The first time, I was confused. They always tell you how hard it'll be, but it was easy… too easy, one little push and he couldn't breathe," she told him as she sat down, sliding down one of the walls. He stared at her for a moment, in a way that made her uncomfortable; he was judging her. "It's not like I like to do it… I hate it really. It makes me feel… not right," she told him as she started to squirm under his gaze.

"No… it ain't that. That's the first time you used contractions with me," he told her as he ducked his head sheepishly.

"I had not noticed," she told him.

"You don't like killin' folks, you ain't never gotta do it again. Just leave it ta me, Kitten, I'll do it," he promised her solemnly. She stared at him, a new thought occurring to her, another in a long chain associated with the trickster. Before she could elaborate any further he stood up, holding a hand out to her. "We should get movin' 'fore more of 'em stumble onta us," he said as he pulled her gently to her feet. She latched onto his arm as he recoiled, pecking him on the cheek quickly.

"Saved your life," she boasted softly as she slid past, starting ahead without him.

She felt him press his lips together with a frustrated sigh before jogging a few steps to place himself in front of her again. "Body armor," he reminded her as he retook the lead.

They'd made it maybe another twenty meters when the lights suddenly flickered. "Back online," a familiar voice greeted them.

"GRIMM, sitrep," his creator demanded.

"Reading heat signatures of twenty-seven assailants, with reinforcements inbound; ETA: three minutes. It appears our guests are going for the generators, having given up any attempts to hack my programming," GRIMM informed him.

"Run a shell game to the generators, and get me to the mule in the gym the quickest and quietest way possible, close off all routes that intersect ours that you can," Russell delegated his orders quickly.

"Infiltrators have managed to assail all major hubs, any path is going to be complicated," the computer updated him.

"Get us to the gym without any trouble, monitor all hostile signatures and track movements," he commanded. Slowly but surely the computer managed to guide them quietly to the gym, however when they arrived they found it was heavily guarded, twenty-ish men stood watch in various positions over the large area. They waited on the other side of the doorway while they discussed their course of action. Russell had two guns fully loaded, eight rounds in his current magazine, and three spare mags left on him which he would have to share with River.

"GRIMM, gimme a visual inside the gym," he told the computer, a moment later the small handheld device popped up with a few different surveillance 'd built some slightly crude barricades out of crates probably taken from one of his storage closets, they probably wouldn't stop a bullet, but they would make decent cover. Each of the barricades facing a door had only two guards watching them, there were other barricades placed throughout the room to be used as cover by reinforcements to any area under attack.

"No getting past quietly," River commented.

"No need to play it slow, our best bet's ta move quickly, but cautiously an' make for the back wall, farthest from any entrance. If'n I tell ya ta run, ya run, no questions. If I don't make it there's a passage there, look for the tile marked with crosshairs, it'll be roughly 21x28 centimeters at about 1 an' a quarter meters off the ground. Push it in, and a door will open right 'side, just like in the library, continue on until you find the mule, from there you'll wanna watch your speed through the canyons, GRIMM should be able to give ya the best path, tell him to avoid the noose if possible, that's a tricky lil stretch a dust I don't want ya runnin' less ya hafta," Russell told her. "An' River, DON'T let 'em take me. If'n I get pinned down, or it looks like they'll capture me, shoot me in the head, I'll make sure ya get a shot. If the worst should happen… remember me. I don't much care how, as a friend or an asshole, just remember me," he added solemnly after a minute. She found his last request odd.

"Why does it matter so much?" she asked him.

"If'n a man dies, an' ain't nobody 'round that remembers him, who's ta say he ever really lived," he told her hesitantly after a moment.

"And if it looks like they're going to cap-," she started to mirror his request.

"Ain't never gunna happen, an' ya ain't got my permission ta die neither, you're gettin' outta here, back ta the doc so he don't go kickin' up a fuss with the boss," Russell cut her off stubbornly. "You just gotta 'member ta keep me 'tween you an' the greatest number a hostiles ya can," he encouraged her.

"Once we open the door, which side do you want me to cover?" she asked him after a moment.

"Go right, I'll handle the left. Take a spare clip, need more lemme know," he told her as he tossed a clip to her.

"Watch the double-tap, we have 98 bullets remaining, you always use two shots to kill your target; it's like you have a dead eye," she tried to give her own instructions. She could feel him zeroing on the contraction again.

"It's called professionalism, I don't want nobody I already went and shot poppin' up an' shootin' me in the back," he told her defensively. "Breech on three," he told her as they took up positions in front of the double doors.

As they pulled the doors open each of them pivoted back so their gun-hand was forward, firing in unison so it sounded as one loud bark. They'd taken the men guarding their doors unaware, dropping each with one round, and they slid to barricade, each turning to deal with their own potential flankers. Russell focused as he saw two turning, he squeezed the trigger once, twitched slightly to his left, and squeezed again, two fell to the floor with holes in their head. Behind him he heard one, two, three shots, followed by the muffled sound of two bodies hitting the ground.

"And you say I gotta dead eye!" he shouted at River, who grimaced at him as she turned to coordinate the next phase.

"Hostiles have cut all cameras to the gym and surrounding hallways," GRIMM warned them. Russell was too busy to answer so he hit a button and the alert was disabled.

They heard an assault rifle spit out a three round burst. They felt the soft vibrations of carefully advancing feet on the ground beneath them. Russell peeked out to get a quick view of the situation, but as soon as his head was clear of concealment six bullets from two guns barked out at him, he'd only gotten a glance before he'd had to retreat. He'd seen the shooters, they were standing behind stacked crates maybe 20 meters ahead. He pulled a flashbang from his vest pulled the pin, and released the spoon, counting to three before he turned to lob it over the barricade.

The moment it went off the two of them shifted up above the barricade, they fired shots as they rose, Russell needing two for his target, River dropped hers in one, the managed to return to cover just as another round of covering fire was directed at them. River touched one of her cheekbones just beneath her eye as she thought _dead eye_. The soldiers were advancing in teams of two now, one approaching the pair from either side of the barricade. River's right side was closer to the nearest wall, as the door they entered on had been roughly three meters from the corner, whereas Russell had entered 25 meters from the wall on his side. Two teams were moving toward Russell's side of the gym. He swapped out his clip, only three bullets left.

"We gotta move this way, wait for 'em to make a sprint and we'll-," he started to tell her, but as he spoke four men burst through the doors they'd come through, they'd both been sitting with their backs to the barricade, facing the doors. "GO!" he shouted as he tapped her on the shoulder and pointed to another set of crates off to his right while the two of them rose to crouched position. He fired eight shots, two at each of the four, their bullets either bounced wide or traced after River. He ran, fast as he could while still partially crouched, toward the direction River had taken, a line of gunfire tracing it's way after him… he slid the last meter and a half to safety and plastered himself to the cover of the crates while River fired shots as covering fire.

Their quick action along with continued survival had caught the enemy off-guard, who'd expected that rear-flanking tactic to be the end of hostilities; combined with the lateral movement, they'd managed to create a greater space between themselves and their pursuers. Allowing them a moment to catch their breath as their opponents tried to reconfigure, they thought the two had backed themselves into a corner, and so they spread out their men with the intention of advancing slowly.

They adjusted with River closer to the back while Russell acted as a rear guard, no conversation needed, something strange was happening with them, it was almost like they were interfacing, but that always required absolute focus, something they couldn't spare on the battlefield. River's magazine had just run empty providing cover fire, he tossed it over to her in an arc, she hid the release, dumping the empty clip, and plucked the new clip from the air without pausing to catch it in her hand. He was irked that she felt the need to show off even when the fight could resume any minute, which only served to enhance her smug satisfaction. She felt him urging her to get ready for the next little leap, a little over six meters. He laid down suppressive fire while River sprinted a short distance, he'd thought for a moment she'd been hit by something as she'd suddenly popped below his peripheral vision, but when he turned he saw she'd slid to cover. He rolled his eyes as it wasn't necessary, the only shots that had been fired were at him. '_Fraidy cat _he thought. She shot him a look of boredom… she was trying to spice things up… in the middle of a gun-fight. He decided to play along.

He ran the distance to cover, sliding the last few meters, but as he fell down he leveled his gun and fired two shots at one of his pursuers, dropping the man cold. He grinned the challenge to River as he came to a stop. There was only one obstruction left between themselves and the back wall, and their enemies were now making it to the same wall, landing straight in their wake, applying pressure now from forces in two different directions. Russell shot four times as River made the next run, she was forced to cover herself on one side as she ran., Russell backed slower, as he couldn't turn and run while they approached, River kept them busy on the far wall, but when he got to her she needed another new clip, as did he. He dropped his gun to the ground, pulling one from under his shoulder as he tossed the final floating clip to River.

She reloaded quickly, firing behind them, he pulled one of the flashbangs from his vest as he turned to the door, he didn't bother pulling the pin before he sent it sailing toward the back wall of the room, it struck the necessary tile and a section of wall slid back to reveal a passage behind them. The enemy that had been advancing at a quick pace to this point slowed momentarily to assess the change in situations. Russell didn't waste a moment, he pulled the pins and tossed all three of his smoke grenades in a straight line between them and the passage, billowing clouds erupted from each as it landed. He spun to usher River ahead of him, as he did he fired one shot at the enemy soldier closest to him, when the man went down he one of his eyes was replaced with a gaping, bloody hole. The two of them sprinted full-tilt for the door ahead of them, rushing headlong into anything that might lie on the other side.

As River cleared the door she made for the mule ten meters ahead. "Fire 'er up!" Russell commanded her as he stopped by the open doorway, heaving with all his strength to slide the stone wall shut again, closing up the passage before the smoke cleared and it's exact location was revealed. A few moments later there was a loud clamor coming from the other side. "Grenades, it'll only take one or two more," he told the girl as he dashed toward her, he made a horizontal leap of two meters, planting his arms on the back of the mule he used them to propel himself feet-first into the front row where he landed roughly in the passenger's seat. He quickly pulled his guns from his holsters, tossing them in the back. _I drive, you shoot! _he thought as they swapped places quickly.

He got the mule moving toward the exit ahead of them just as two more grenades rocked the door and soldiers came pouring in. "GRIMM, we're clear, initiate carthage protocols!" he demanded as the mule made it to a comfortable speed.

"Warning: hostile reinforcements arriving from approaches 1-4, and 6-13, expect swifter pursuit vehicles!" GRIMM informed him.

"Why not approach 5?" River shouted over the sound of the engine, already knowing the answer she would receive.

"That's the noose," he answered her as the tunnel fell away behind them and they were presented with a series of canyons in the rock. The one that Russell chose to take was narrow, barely wide enough to accept the mule with maybe a half-meter to spare on either side.

"Should not we worry about aerial bombardment?" River asked as the lights came on automatically as they rushed into the abyss of night.

"Gunna need ta see so we don't go a-slammin' inta one a the sudden turns, 'sides the passage is narrow, makes it hard ta land a direct hit. Tie up your hair," he told her. A moment later there was an explosion as a craft behind them hit the opening at a slight angle, another was much more fortunate as it slid between the walls confidently. River took up a position in the back of the mule, staying low as she began to return fire. Of her first three shots one pierced the windscreen on the passenger side, burying itself in the leather seat, another went just passed the soldier in the back seat firing at them, and the third hit the helmet of the driver, causing him to suddenly veer off into the wall, causing the whole thing to explode. Before she managed a relaxed breath another came bursting through the fireball that had been it's predecessor.

"Why do you call it 'the noose'?" she shouted her question over the sound of the wind in their ears, as she felt the vehicle start to slow. She braced herself as she sensed that Russell was about to send the mule into a series of sharp turns. He didn't answer her as he whipped the controls to his right, barely managing to straighten them out before he banked into a hard left. He repeated this twice more, following the trail of the canyon about them, her eyes widened in terror when the right side sent a shower of sparks up around them as it scraped alongside the wall as they came out of a turn.

"Ya hang a fellah, it ain't a long fall, maybe six inches, but it ain't the distance that kills him, it's the speed combined with the sudden stop… take the noose too fast, it'll have the same result," he shouted back to her. Unfortunately for the pair of them, their pursuer had managed the series of turns, though there it did damage the front corner as it came out of the first turn, and it looked as though they'd lost one of their rear passengers in the turns.

"They are gaining on us!" she told him, alarmed as their chaser was once again gaining speed.

"Strap in. I'M DROPPIN' THE HAMMER!" he shouted to her. A moment later the mule began hurtling forward at a near break-neck pace. The faster vehicle accelerated to give chase. River fired another wave of shots at their chaser to try and slow them, she managed to down the front passenger.

She felt a tendril of thought connecting her to Russell in the back of her mind, he was so focused on piloting now that he couldn't spare the effort to speak. _Approachin' a hairpin turn, gunna try somethin' new, brace yourself! _he warned her.

_Will it work?_ she asked.

_Yes?_ he answered.

Just as he did, she felt a sudden lurching in the mule beneath her, as her half of the vehicle seemed to fall from the sky, at the same time she felt a slight push from the side, causing it to roughly twist the carriage 90 degrees, just as she felt something starting to pull up and to the left. She was watching the speeder behind them give chase, as all of it happened everything shifted 90 degrees, it took her a half-second to realize the ground rolling out beneath them now was in fact the canyon wall, a half second later, as the turn ended, everything jolted back to the way it had been before the turn, save for the warning alarms going off in the pilot's seat. Behind them the turn lit up brightly as the speeder chasing them slammed into one of the walls of the bend.

River just started to relax when suddenly she was unceremoniously rattled, sparks began flying from the left side of the mule. "SORRY! SORRY! Had to run a diagnostic," Russell shouted over his shoulder to her from the front while she turned to see what was happening, he had just corrected it when she stared at the back of his head.

"YOU HAVE ONE JOB! DO NOT FAIL!" she shouted back to him. He shrugged her off with a wave of his hand as he checked some of his dials. His special maneuver had given them a few moments respite, but it wasn't enough to get them clear of the chase. The twists and turns of the canyon were working out to their advantage as behind them she saw other ravines joined theirs, allowing for more speeders to join the chase, but it was obvious Russell knew the terrain here better than the would be captors.

_Duck yourself back inside… we're gunna push 'er to the limit this next stunt _he warned her nervously.

_I trust you _she answered him simply as she pulled her arms and legs up around her into a fetal position, closing her in hopes of calming herself for what was to come. A moment later she felt similar to the way she had before, but it was worse, the sheer force of the shift knocked the air from her, as suddenly as it had started, she felt it completely reverse itself, her arms protected her head as they slammed into the mule beside her with dizzying force, the mule was rattling, threatening to tear apart beneath her from the strength competing forces. She heard a loud shrieking sound as the mule hit the lowest point in it's zenith to what she assumed was the ground before finally managing to catapult itself in the other direction. She felt a trill of panic run through Russell's spine as he lost control of the car, he was fighting the controls with all his strength, but math simply wasn't on his side… there would be no beating the odds this time as the mule began to spin out of control.

While math wasn't on his side, it seemed fortune was, he managed to stop the vehicle from spinning out, instead he over-corrected it into a slaloming fish-tail, he just managed to clear a fork in the canyon, the rear driver-side corner-panel was ripped off as it caught the corner of the divider. Russell fought the control simply to straighten it out so that he could ride the momentum through the turn. As he managed to exit the turn and get the vehicle under full control she could feel relief begin to flood through him.

"Are we dead?" she asked him tentatively as she opened one of her eyes.

"Close but not quite," he answered her as she felt a sense of disbelief consuming him. He throttled back after a few moments when he realized there were no more sounds of pursuit.

"How did you do that?" River asked him, euphorically happy, as the mule slid out of the canyon into a wide, flat plain. Instead of explaining it to her, he gave her an outline in her mind so she could understand. "Why did our pursuers not follow your example?" she asked him.

"I had ta disable every ruttin' operating system an' manual override aimed at safety in this gorram thing 'fore I could do that, case you ain't noticed it weren't exactly without risk. An' I had ta make a few illegal aftermarket modifications ta some of it's mechanisms, the kind that make it a hair more'n utterly an' inordinately volatile. Most folks'd tell ya this things'a deathtrap," he confided to her confidently.

"And people think _I _am crazy!" she muttered to herself as she sat back a moment, trying to ignore the subtle shaking of the mule as it threatened to come apart at the seams.


End file.
